On Thursday, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye met with the media at Gillette Stadium for the first time since January 1 - four days before his team’s final game of the 2024 season.
Yeah, that game.
The one where third string quarterback Joe Milton III went off, and the Patriots ended up beating the Bills 23-16 to bump themselves from selecting No. 1 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft.
From the moment the clock hit 00:00 in that one, a lot of things have changed for the football team at 1 Patriot Place.
From firing head coach Jerod Mayo just minutes after his final postgame press conference, to replacing him with franchise legend Mike Vrabel just seven days later, to hiring Josh McDaniels for his third stint as New England’s offensive coordinator on a completely revamped coaching staff, to spending big in free agency with additions like Milton Williams and Stefon Diggs, to drafting LSU left tackle Will Campbell No. 4 overall despite major question marks about his historically short wingspan - the team has found a way to keep us busy on the beat.
Despite that long list of massive storylines, nothing seemed to drum up more conversation and interest - both on the airwaves and online - than the team trading Milton and a seventh round pick to the Cowboys on April 3 for a fifth round pick in this year’s draft.
Adding fuel to that fire, MassLive’s Karen Guregian reported that part of the reason the team moved Milton was that he fancied himself a starting quarterback, and believed he was good enough to overtake Maye for the job in New England. Additionally, The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin reported that Maye’s family was “not thrilled” when Milton was drafted 193 picks after Maye in the sixth round of the 2024 draft, and that Milton being handed the ball in Week 18 was part of the reason Maye was nowhere to be found for comment either postgame after the Bills win or on locker room cleanout day.
So on Thursday, four months to the day since Maye’s last press conference, the topic of Milton’s departure from New England was bound to come up.
Here’s what he said when asked for his reaction to the trade:
“I texted Joe. Me and Joe came in together. We learned the offense together. We were competing every day to out-throw each other at practice. And obviously he’s got a big arm. So it was cool for him to get a chance to go and be back-up.
“And I think you saw in the Bills game his potential. And I think we kind of have a similar play style a little bit, and it was kind of related to our similar college offense to this offense. And it was cool to be in the room and have somebody to bounce ideas, or ‘hey you remember doing this in college,’ and stuff like that.
“So pulling for Joe - probably play him again, or I’ll see him down the road. So, thank you. Go Pats.”
In typical Maye fashion, he took the high road.
…or did he?
“That was a bit of a meandering answer,” said WEEI’s Adam Jones on Thursday's Jones and Keefe. “No. 2 - he runs off the podium, as far as I can tell, I didn’t see it. But he’s like, ‘Hey guys, go Pats, I’m out of here! No follow-ups!’”
“Well, Stacey [James] did say last question,” WEEI’s Nick LaPan jumped in to point out, referencing the team’s vice president of communications jumping in before the Milton question was asked.
“He did, but that’s never prevented people before from being like, ‘Hey, here’s one more. Oh by the way, did you have any say in that, Drake?’” said Jones. “Like he was running away from any follow-up questions about Joe Milton.”
“But he wishes him well as a back-up,” WEEI’s Rich Keefe said sarcastically. “Hey, things break his way, maybe, hopefully, he’s a back-up.
“[That’s what] Milton was squawking about while he was here? He was like, ‘I just really wanna be a back-up somewhere.’ Is that what got him traded? Or did he want to be a starter?”
It appears Maye’s comments from Thursday on Milton may have re-opened this can of worms.
We’ll look to see if the Dallas media are able to chat with Milton soon to get his side of the story.
Stay locked in to WEEI and WEEI.com for all the latest on the Patriots’ offseason.