On Friday, second-year quarterback Drake Maye was not present during the portion of practice open to the media.
The media was granted access to periods four and five on Friday, where the team went through their normal stretch routine, followed by a special teams period.
No No. 10 to be found with his fellow quarterbacks Josh Dobbs and Tommy DeVito.
Head coach Mike Vrabel is set to speak to the media on Friday at 1:10 p.m. ET.
When he was asked about his concern level for Maye when speaking with the media on Thursday, Vrabel downplayed the situation.
“What is your level of concern on that?” Vrabel was asked Thursday.
“Not much,” said Vrabel. “I try not to have a whole lot of concern. I just want to try to prepare the football team, make sure that everybody's ready, that we all have a plan, not to surprise anybody and make sure that our guys are focusing on the first and second down plan.
“We've tried to map out the week here, week and a half, and not look at the end of it, but focus on what we can do today. Try to learn our opponent and be ready for first and second down.”
Maye’s comments to the media carried a similar tone.
“Were you limited at all [on Thursday], or do you anticipate being limited moving forward?” Maye was asked after Thursday’s practice.
“I'm just going to try to do whatever I can to get back to 100%.” said Maye. “I think a lot of people in that locker room would say the same thing. Having a two-week break is nice to rest a little more and get to know the Seahawks as well as I can. From there, I'm looking forward to getting out to practice and trying to transfer that to live game reps.”
“Do you think your ability to throw will be inhibited at all in the Super Bowl based on what you know about the injury so far?” he was asked in a follow-up.
“No, I don't think so,” said Maye. “That's why you spend time - that's why you have trainers. I think it's just been one of those things where it's a long season, and sometimes things show up.
“I'm going to do whatever I can to feel 100%. I'm sure I'll get, if not there, as close as you can, 99%, or do whatever I can to make sure I'm throwing and like I said, do whatever I can to help the team win.”
The Patriots will release their practice report for Friday at some point in the afternoon. On both Wednesday and Thursday, Maye was listed as a limited participant.
On Friday, we’ll see him with a “did not participate” next to his name.
In the aftermath of the Patriots (14-3) winning the AFC on Sunday, an account on X calling themselves the “Pro Football Doc” gained steam for a clip claiming Maye suffered a shoulder injury against the Broncos (14-3).
That account is run by David J. Chao, whose bio claims he spent 17-plus years as an NFL head team doctor who now gives injury insights on SiriusXM and FOX Sports Radio. He writes injury analysis for a website called Sports Injury Central, which appears to have some sort of sports gambling tie-in.
“There is no question in my mind that Drake Maye injured his right throwing shoulder against the Denver Broncos,” Chao said in the clip. “Of course, how bad is the injury remains to be seen. What type of injury - I’m still gathering data, but let me give you the evidence.”
Chao went on to breakdown both the play where he believes Maye was injured along with how he operated the rest of that evening (in-game and postgame), all of which leading him to the conclusion that there should be more concern for Super Bowl LX about Maye’s shoulder than Seahawks (14-3) quarterback Sam Darnold’s oblique, which almost kept him out of their Divisional Round matchup against the 49ers (12-5).
During his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show on Tuesday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was asked about the speculation Chao and others on the internet have done surrounding the health of his All-Pro quarterback heading into their biggest game of the season.
“Internet doctors have seen an issue in Drake May's shoulder following a hit during the AFC Championship Game,” said WEEI’s Chris Curtis. “Is he 100% healthy today as you guys get ready?”
"There's not a player on our team that's 100% healthy,” Vrabel quickly responded.
"Is he healthy enough to play at a high level?" Curtis followed up.
"I would imagine we'll go through the injury report, and whenever we have to turn that in, we'll turn it in,” said Vrabel. “But nobody's 100%. This will be our 21st game."
Stay locked in to WEEI and WEEI.com for all the latest on this developing situation.
Tune in each and every Monday throughout the football season to Patriots Monday on WEEI. Head coach Mike Vrabel joins The Greg Hill Show at 6:30 a.m. ET, and quarterback Drake Maye joins WEEI Afternoons.