On Saturday, Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye was cleared from the NFL’s concussion protocol, just six days after suffering the helmet-to-helmet hit in Week 8 against the Jets that landed him there.
Cleared to play by the league, Maye started under center for the fourth straight game, and led his team to a 20-17 overtime loss to the Titans.
On Monday, in the midst of talking about his team’s seventh loss on the season with WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” head coach Jerod Mayo was asked about Maye’s stay on the protocol by executive producer Chris Curtis:
Foxborough, MA - October 27: New England Patriots QB Drake Maye heads to the locker room after getting injured on a run in the second quarter.Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
Chris Curtis: “On the protocol - so did he have a concussion? Or is the protocol also for seeing if you did or if you didn’t [have a concussion]? Does that make sense? Like, do we know that he, indeed, have a concussion?”
Jerod Mayo: “That made no sense to me…”
CC: “So did he get a concussion?”
JM: “Listen, this is what I would say. The NFL called down. He was put in the concussion protocol. He cleared the concussion protocol and played for us.”
CC: “So we don’t know if he had a concussion, or not?”
JM: “He was in the concussion protocol. That’s a question for, I guess, the league.”
CC: “So the team doesn’t know if he has a concussion?”
JM: “He was in the concussion protocol. I’m not gonna keep going back and forth on this.”
CC: “No, I’m just curious. Because it was quick, I didn’t know that he was going to be in there. So if he didn’t, indeed, have one, it would make more sense.”
JM: “They put a spotter - an NFL spotter called down. They said, ‘We believe he may have a concussion.’ They placed him in the concussion protocol. He cleared those hurdles and was able to play. Like, those guys are way smarter than me as far as concussions are concerned.”
Curtis then joked that morning show cohost and former NFL tight end Jermaine Wiggins was their show’s “concussion expert,” the room had a laugh, and the line of questioning shifted away from Maye’s involvement from the protocol.
Foxborough, MA - October 27: New England Patriots QB Drake Maye sits in the medical tent.Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe/Getty Images
A curiously ambiguous set of answers from the first-year head coach to a line of questioning that seemed pretty straightforward from Curtis.
Concussion or not, Maye cleared all five phases of the NFL’s protocol in the week leading up to Week 9, and was deemed healthy enough to play.
He’ll be back at it in Week 10, as the Patriots are on the road to take on the Chicago Bears (4-4).
