Drake

Maye

Facing his fourth defensive onslaught in as many playoff appearances, Maye fully wilted, losing 43 yards on six sacks and coughing up a fumble-six. Although the Chargers, Texans and Broncos were all tough matchups, the Seahawks proved to be something else entirely, routinely getting home with just four pass rushers. Maye did not play well, but he also never had a chance. Things were much different during the regular season. After a stunning Week 1 dud against a Raiders squad that would go on to claim the No. 1 overall pick, both Maye and his Patriots started on a Super Bowl warpath and never let up. Despite a curious lack of 300-yard performances, Maye was shockingly consistent, finishing below 200 yards only two times all season. He lapped the field in NextGenStats’ completion rate over expected, and finished top five in average intended air yards. Despite running less often than he did as a rookie, Maye was a big-play machine, and it helped carry a Pats offense running low on standalone playmakers. It was all about Maye, an extremely bullish sign for a 23-year-old second-year pro. If this is what Maye can accomplish with a skeleton crew skill corps, we would love to see what he’s capable of with a more fleshed-out unit. Expect that to arrive for 2026, keeping Maye in the MVP mix after this year’s top-two finish.

Maye injured his right, throwing shoulder in the Patriots’ AFC Championship Game victory over the Broncos. He was limited through last week’s first two practices before being sidelined on Friday by an illness. After resting and rehabbing through the weekend, he rattled off three straight full practice sessions this week. This year’s MVP runner-up is ready to go.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes that this was the closest MVP race since Peyton Manning and Steve McNair shared the award in 2003. Stafford narrowly beat Patriots QB Drake Maye, winning 24 first-place votes to Maye’s 23 while totaling 366 points to Maye’s 361. Stafford closed his acceptance speech by telling the audience he will return for another season in 2026.

Maye was listed as questionable on the Pats’ initial injury report last week. He was limited for the first two practices of the week. The team then held him out of Friday’s session because of the illness, not the shoulder issue. There was never any risk of him missing this game and his comments today confirm that. A full practice today means the shoulder injury shouldn’t affect Maye in any capacity on the biggest stage in football.

Maye practiced in a limited capacity on Wednesday and Thursday, nursing an injury in his right shoulder. He was downgraded today after coming down with an illness. The Patriots have another week of practice before Super Bowl LX will be played. We have no concerns about his availability.

To be clear, Maye is still dealing with a shoulder injury, but head coach Mike Vrabel said Maye “would’ve been at practice today if not for the illness.” Maye had been limited in practice all week leading up to Friday, but the team doesn’t appear too concerned about his injury sidelining him in the Super Bowl, which is still over a week away.

ESPN’s Mike Reiss reports that the Patriots switched up their routine today, moving the quarterback group’s throwing session to the portion of practice unavailable to media. When asked for his level of concern regarding Maye’s throwing-shoulder injury, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said, “not much.” We fully expect Maye to play in Super Bowl LX against the Seahawks. Hopefully, he resumes practicing fully tomorrow.

Maye seemingly injured his right shoulder in the AFC Championship victory over the Broncos, though it does not look to be a major issue. Teams need to release practice reports on Wednesday despite it being the week before the Super Bowl, so the early injury listings should be taken with a grain of salt. However, it is encouraging news that Maye was listed as limited. The 23-year-old is not yet in jeopardy of missing the Super Bowl.

Maye seemed to have injured his shoulder during the Patriots’ AFC title game win over the Broncos. Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was vague when asked about Maye’s practice status for the coming weeks. “This is a sport where there’s gonna be things that come up. We’ll talk about whatever status each player has for the game once we’re required to,” Vrabel said. If Maye is struggling with an injured shoulder, he’ll have a while to recover ahead of New England’s Super Bowl matchup against a tough Seattle defense. Joshua Dobbs is the Patriots’ backup QB.

Maye struggled through the air all afternoon, completing less than 50 percent of his passes while taking five sacks from the No. 1 sack defense in the league. Despite his offensive struggles, Maye and the Patriots took advantage of a turnover late in the second quarter, when Jarrett Stidham was ruled to have thrown a pass behind the line of scrimmage, which was recovered by the Patriots on Denver’s 12-yard line. Maye would complete a six-yard pass to Kayshon Boutte on the following play, then run up the middle on a QB draw on the following play for the six-yard score, tying the game before the half. On the opening possession of the second-half, Maye again relied on his legs, breaking free for a 28-yard run on third down to move his offense into the Broncos’ red zone. While they weren’t able to find the end zone on the drive, a 23-yard field goal by Andy Borregales to cap the drive proved to be more than enough for Maye and the Patriots, who spent much of the the second half grinding out the clock in snowy conditions. Now headed to the Super Bowl, Maye will become the second-youngest quarterback in NFL history to start Super Bowl (Dan Marino, 23 years and 127 days), and the first from the 2024 NFL Draft Class to make it to the big game. The game was far from pretty, but Maye again came up clutch and is one game away from hoisting his first Lombardi Trophy in just his second season. The Patriots now wait to see who they will play between the Rams and Seahawks.