As Drake Maye enters his second season in the NFL, the Patriots are looking for their franchise quarterback to take on a larger leadership role in 2025.
The Patriots drafted Maye with the third-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and he began his rookie season behind Jacoby Brissett.
After the Patriots started the season 1-4, and Brissett was banged up, the rookie quarterback got his first-career NFL start against the Houston Texans.
Maye wound up starting 12 games in 2024 and playing in 13 games. He threw for 2,276 yards, 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, but showed a lot of promise and grit at the end of the season. Maye also ran for 421 yards and a couple of touchdowns.
Coming into the 2025 season, there's a lot of turnover in New England and with that has come a new culture and coaching structure.
Mike Vrabel has put an emphasis on building relationships and leadership within the Patriots early this offseason.
ESPN's Mike Reiss reported this week that there's one drill that Vrabel has been using specifically to push Maye in his leadership and mental toughness.
At the end of the open practice session, Vrabel had Maye lead sprints for the team. But, these weren't just ordinary sprints. The Patriots' new head coach had the entire offense line up on the goal line with their quarterback in the middle.
To start the sprint, Maye had to call out a specific cadence and make sure every player started the sprint on the correct snap count. The players did this drill over and over again until everyone was gassed, which is about the maximum physical exertion allowed in voluntary spring practice.
During the drill, Vrabel would switch up the snap count with "dummy" calls to make sure Maye was loud enough with his commands for all his teammates to hear. Vrabel would watch closely to make sure nobody left the line early.
Maye has been praised by many of his teammates and coaches through OTAs for doing well taking on more leadership this offseason. As mandatory minicamp gets underway this week, expect Vrabel to pull more tricks out of his hat to challenge and develop his young quarterback.
Vrabel does not mess around, and he's showing his serious attention to detail and structure this offseason in New England.