For the first time since his freshman and sophomore seasons at North Carolina, Drake Maye will enter a season with the same offensive coordinator he had the year before.
That continuity comes with Josh McDaniels, the reigning AP NFL Assistant Coach of the Year, returning for his second season with the Patriots.
In his first season under McDaniels, Maye put together a breakout campaign, completing a league-best 72.0% of his passes, a Patriots team record, for 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns against just eight interceptions. He added 450 rushing yards and four more touchdowns on the ground while leading the NFL in both passer rating (113.5) and QBR (77.1), ultimately finishing as the MVP runner-up.
After going through four offensive coordinators in four seasons dating back to his college days, Maye finally has the opportunity to build on what he established with McDaniels last year. As part of his weekly appearance on WEEI’s Rich and Ken with Ted Johnson, Maye spoke about what it means to have that consistency heading into his second season with McDaniels (full interview below).
“It’s awesome playing another year with Coach McDaniels. He’s such a high-level [coach]. He understands this offense, obviously, like nobody does,” Maye said.
“I’ve been just trying to chase that level he’s on, and I know I may not get there, but that’s what I’m striving for. So it’s been awesome to have him and get another year of understanding what we’re trying to get in, plays that we like and don’t like, and I think it’s just more and more freedom is earned when you play well. So I’ve got to continue to do what they do on offense and score some points.”
With a full year in McDaniels’ offense, Maye should have a much better understanding of what he sees before the snap. That experience should help him identify coverages, make adjustments, and get the Patriots into the right play more quickly. That added familiarity should also allow Maye to play faster and with more freedom at the line of scrimmage, helping the Patriots operate at a quicker pace and run more plays this season.
“The biggest thing is just getting in the good plays and positive plays. I think that’s what Coach McDaniels is preaching. I think the best thing for us is the more plays that we get on offense, the more likely you will have explosive plays and plays that are going to be in our favor,” Maye said.
“That’s been kind of the motto, and I think just growing and understanding why we do things instead of just snapping and doing it. So that’s the big thing.”
The other major benefit for Maye heading into this season is the revamped wide receiver room. The Patriots added A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs this offseason, giving Maye two more established weapons to work with alongside a group he already knows. Maye says he has been impressed with both newcomers throughout the summer.
“I’ve been really impressed, especially with A.J. and Romeo coming in, with how eager they are to learn the system and how quickly they adapted to it. It’s kind of new terminology for them, and it’s been great to see them kind of grow,” Maye said. “Seeing throughout training camp, with each having their days where they’re really just taking over the day and just kind of being unguardable.”
The Patriots will travel to Seattle on Monday before opening the 2026 season in a Super Bowl rematch Wednesday night. It marks just the third time in NFL history that a Super Bowl rematch has been scheduled for Week 1 of the following season. The only other instances came in Broncos vs. Panthers in 2016 and Vikings vs. Chiefs in 1970. Overall, it is just the 12th time a Super Bowl rematch has taken place during the following regular season.
