Patriots minicamp takeaways 2024: Offense struggles during final spring session, but Drake Maye rallies late

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — School is out for the summer. The New England Patriots wrapped up mandatory minicamp on Wednesday and it was a pretty tepid way to enter the break for the offense in particular.

This final session was a little calmer than the minicamp opening practice on Monday, but things improved during the competitive practices, which were largely dominated by the defense. Outside of filming, New England chose to work through a rushed two-minute situation that showed there were still some kinks to be ironed out on offense.

Jacoby Brissett, who remains the presumptive Week 1 starter due to his share of reps, was unable to complete his first two passes of the opening 11-on-11 period. He then recovered to make consecutive completions, but was unable to stop the clock or end the game before time runs out. Rookie Drake Maye came in after Brissett’s turnover and the offense didn’t look much better with the third overall pick throwing a corner interception to Azizi Hearn.

The group then transitioned to 7-on-7, which wasn’t much better. After Maye’s pick, Brissett came in and almost threw his own interception, but Isaiah Bolden gave up. The veteran completed one of his four passes during the session. Maye essentially mimicked this Brissett sequence, completing just one of his four throws with a near-interception as well.

Halfway through practice, it looked like the offense was going into summer break with a bitter taste in its mouth, but Maye ended up recovering in the final stretch of the day. In another 11-on-11 period with the ball near the 5-yard line, Maye and sophomore receiver Kayshon Boutte put on a show. The duo connected for three touchdowns on Maye’s four pass attempts. The last two were fades on either side of the end zone, with Maye displaying ideal ball placement and Boutte displaying impeccable timing and concentration.

“One thing I’ve been trying to emphasize to him is, ‘All right, keep hitting the rock, get 1 percent better every day,’” coach Jerod Mayo said before practice about Maye’s development during camp. “It won’t always be great.”

Mayo later added, “I would say the surprising thing is the way he can get his nose up, right? What I mean by that is he makes a bad throw, it’s out of his head. Move on to the next play.”

These comments from Mayo foreshadowed events to come in training.

In addition to the flurry of consecutive touchdowns between Boutte and Maye, the highlight of the session for the offense came on its final play. With one second left in a series of do-or-die runs, Maye threw a pass to the back corner of the right end zone to fellow rookie Ja’Lynn Polk, who was able to beat his defender on the diving landing.

The officials, who were again present for training, considered it a prank, albeit with much protest from essentially the entire defense, who were forced to do push-ups.

Here are some other nuggets from New England’s final minicamp practice:

• How the QBs fared: As we noted above, it was a mixed bag for the quarterbacks during competitive practices (11-on-11 and 7-on-7). By my count, Brissett completed nine of his 20 passes with one near-interception. Maye was 8-for-12 passing with one interception (and another almost picked), while Bailey Zappe completed two of his four throws in competitive practices.
• Attendance: Tyquan Thornton was a notable new absence from Wednesday’s practice after we saw him on Monday. Meanwhile, Kendrick Bourne, Cole Strange, Jahlani Tavai, Jake Andrews, Sione Takitaki and Tyrone Wheatley Jr. were the other Patriots who did not practice.
• Can Davon Godchaux handle it? It appears Patriots defensive lineman Davon Godchaux may be holding his own. While he was present, he was not participating in the competitive sessions. When asked about his situation before practice, Mayo said, “There are guys that obviously want to redo contracts and things like that. And not just DG, it’s a lot of guys that want to do those things, and we’re working on that. [Wolf] and his team, they do a great job when it comes to that. I don’t get into players’ contracts. What I will say is one thing I’ve learned: sometimes the team’s value to a person is a little different than the market value to a person. So these are just things I’m learning, guys. As I told you before, I’m green, but I’m learning. I’m evolving and these are the conversations that need to be had.”
• Offensive line: The offensive line will be more of a story once things come into full contact during training camp, but I thought it was notable on Monday that Mike Onwenu was slotting in at right guard at times. That was the case during competitive periods again on Wednesday. When asked about this on Wednesday, Mayo emphasized that the team is trying to “get the best vibe possible.” Rookie Caedan Wallace also saw reps at right and left tackle.
• TEs are the new QBs: It was a lighter practice than Monday’s session for the Patriots and a little more light-hearted before things escalated during 11-on-11 and 7-on-7. One of those lighter moments came during warmups, when most of the Offensive players (including quarterbacks and offensive linemen) ran along receivers’ routes. For most of that stretch, I saw Hunter Henry and fellow tight end Jaheim Bell throwing the ball to their teammates.
• Return of the McCourty twins: On Monday, the Patriots saw players like Julian Edelman and Vince Wilfork back at their old stomping grounds and on Wednesday they saw the return of Devin and Jason McCourty, who were on hand watching practice. The two are in town for Wednesday’s celebration at Gillette Stadium in which Tom Brady was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.