Recently, the New England Patriots opened up their preseason slate with a dominant 48-18 home win over the Washington Commanders. It was a solid showing in limited minutes from quarterback Drake Maye, the player the Patriots are hoping will take another step forward after a mixed bag of a rookie season.
One key question for the Patriots this year is whether they will be able to buy Maye enough time to make things happen in the pocket, as he was constantly under duress throughout his rookie season.
The Patriots could be going with an unorthodox approach in that department, per recent reporting from Mike Reiss of ESPN.
“With coach Mike Vrabel saying first-round pick Will Campbell (left tackle) and third-round pick Jared Wilson (left guard) have earned their current standing with the top unit, New England is trending to enter the Sept. 7 season opener against the Las Vegas Raiderswith an all-rookie plan to protect quarterback Drake Maye's blindside,” reported Reiss on ESPN.com.
This move would make the Patriots the first team since the 2016 Baltimore Ravens to start rookies at both left guard and left tackle.
As Reiss noted, “The Ravens finished 8-8 that year, and quarterback Joe Flacco was sacked 33 times in 16 starts.”
Not exactly a recipe for success.
A big year for the Patriots
Drake Maye took over as the Patriots' starting quarterback about midway through the 2024 season and showed some flashes of the talent that allowed him to become the number three overall pick the previous spring out of North Carolina.
However, for the most part, Maye didn't have a ton of time to read defenses or make things happen in the pocket, which made him turn into a scrambler perhaps more often than New England's coaching staff would have hoped for.
Counting on rookies to hold up the offensive line is certainly playing with fire, but the players themselves seem to be up to the task.
“We just talk about how fun it's going to be — two rookies, next to each other, left guard and left tackle, on the blindside. We know it's going to be a challenge every day. Teams are going to bring their best on us,” said Wilson, per Reiss.
New England's regular season will get underway on September 7.
