Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Panic?: Drake Maye’s Recent Struggles—How Concerned Should Fans Get?

Starting point is 00:00:00 Drake May was atrocious in the fourth quarter in week one, and he was a mixed bag in the 2025 playoffs, but I'm not freaking out yet. This is Locked-on Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host, Nick Cattels.

Starting point is 00:00:30 On today's show, we examine Drake May's trust tiers without A.J. Brown. second segment, the position most likely to still be addressed before December. But first, I'm not panicking about Drake May after week one in Seattle. Today's episode is brought to by Fandul. Get $350 in bonus bets guaranteed when you bet $5 every day for seven days. Join all the action at fandul.com. A mailbag version of the show. Every single Wednesday, this football season, let's start with Dave in a bunch of numbers, which I'm not. going to read. How concerned are you on Drake May's poor performance in last year's playoffs combined with week one this season? I would say maybe mildly concerned, Dave.

Starting point is 00:01:17 I'm certainly not panicking. The expectations are earned, right? The expectations that we have for Drake May this season, based on what he did in 2025, have been earned. And they, I think, are reasonable to expect him to be a really good quarterback. after being the runner up to the MVP last year. But a couple of bigger picture thoughts before I hone in on what happened against Seattle and what actually happened, Underline actually happened in the playoffs last year. Wednesday night against the Seahawks last week was Drake May's 34th NFL star. Now, I'm not a math professor, but there's 17 games in a season.

Starting point is 00:02:03 So 34 games. that means Drake May's game against Seattle in week one is really the end of his second full year as an NFL quarterback. And we have to keep that in mind. Even though he did a lot of terrific things last year and again, was the runner up to the MVP, it doesn't mean he has everything figured out. It doesn't mean he's flawless. It doesn't mean he's not going to struggle against certain looks or certain defenses.

Starting point is 00:02:32 He has not seen everything. And a number of things that he has seen, he has not seen them a lot. So what you have is May trying to figure out how to attack defenses like the cover six, for example. You also have defenses adjusting to what they saw on the film last year because we can talk about 2024 all we want. But to me, 2024 was almost a completely wasted season for everybody, especially on the offensive side of the football,

Starting point is 00:03:04 because what did you get from Alex Van Pelt at the end of the day? The answer is not much. So what you saw from May last year to me was really the beginning of May in a legitimate NFL offense run by a legitimate offensive coordinator. So now defenses are going to adjust to what May did effectively last year, and Drake May is going to have to adjust to those defenses.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Secondly, again, big picture, let's not forget that May did not come into the league as a completely polished quarterback. Again, it doesn't mean that last year doesn't exist. He certainly deserves all the credit for last year and he was mostly spectacular. However, we compared him coming out of the draft to Josh Allen. And we can talk about how Josh Allen was terrific quicker than anybody thought, including myself. we could talk about the incredible plays that we've seen from Josh Allen and the incredible numbers. He won the MVP going back a couple of years ago, right? But Josh Allen, a lot of that, again, is raw talent coming out.

Starting point is 00:04:14 And then he had to figure things out. Greg Bedard made a great comparison to Josh Allen against the Patriots when you watch Drake May in his two games against the Seahawks. A lot of similarities. and it took Josh Allen a few years to catch up to Bill Belichick and what he was doing defensively. And it took Josh Allen a few years to understand, take the checkdowns, play it safe, take the profit,

Starting point is 00:04:41 whatever cliche you want to use. So if we're sticking with the Josh Allen comparison, and I am going to because they were very, very similar coming out of college, the learning curve is still the learning curve. Now, with that said, he was an arguably terrible in the fourth quarter. I ripped him, justifiably so in the post game. If you want to go check it out again, you can. I spent a solid 12 minutes ripping his fourth quarter.

Starting point is 00:05:07 The Super Bowl, he was part of the issue. I would say he was most of the issue in week one. But in that Super Bowl, he was part of the issue because I did not agree with the game plan. I thought Josh McDaniels failed his young quarterback adjusting to what Mike McDonald was doing. And of course, you had the offensive line. and Will Campbell playing banged up, to say the least. And the offensive line was an absolute nightmare.

Starting point is 00:05:35 Whereas you can look at, you know, week one, the offensive line was much, much better in pass protection. I thought overall the plan was reasonable. They still didn't quite figure out consistently the slot blitz, which come on, Josh. But again, in arguably terrible in the fourth quarter in week one, he was part of the problem in the Super Bowl. However, I want to look at the Chargers, Texans, and Broncos games in last year's playoffs.

Starting point is 00:06:03 I actually went back to my game notes. And I went back, you know, I watched the film after every game, and I grade each player. Evan Lazard does this. Greg Bedard does this. And I go plus minus on plays that stand out to me. And if you go back to last year, because I did not want to allow the bad plays that you remember most of the time, to cloud how Drake May really performed. Because I think it's become almost a fait accompli

Starting point is 00:06:35 that Drake May was terrible in the 2025 playoffs. And that's actually not the truth. He was good to really good against the Chargers. And his highs were very high against L.A. I actually had him overall for like a plus seven and a half in that game. I thought in the second half specifically against the Chargers, May was pretty darn good. I thought he was good against Houston.

Starting point is 00:07:00 Overall, I had him plus. I thought he was more of a manager in that football game. But I also thought that, you know, he made a number of good passes. The touchdown pass to Keishan Bouti was a plus plus play. The touchdown to Diggs, Stefan Diggs, that threading the needle throw was a plus plus play from him. So when you look at the plus plus plays and the plus plays and compare him to the minus plays, I actually had him graded out as an overall positive against the Chargers and against the Texans. It was really the Denver game that started to, you know, change the idea because he was bad in the first half.

Starting point is 00:07:39 He was a minus four. And then he had to deal with a second half blizzard. I thought he actually, considering the circumstances, was okay in that second half, but he finished on the minus side. So I thought he was plus against the Chargers, plus. plus against the Texans, minus against the Broncos, and then had an absolutely terrible Super Bowl, which rolled into an absolutely atrocious fourth quarter in week one. But the biggest issue in the playoffs was the fumbling.

Starting point is 00:08:11 And at times the pressure to sack rate, which I've discussed going back to his college days, and which Andrew Callahan has discussed more recently. The pressure to sack ratio was not great for Drake May last year, and obviously the fumbles. So when you combine those two things, but he didn't lose most of those fumbles. He fumbled, but he didn't lose most of those fumbles. So those were the two biggest issues.

Starting point is 00:08:36 I think what we're dealing with, Dave, is you have the narratives, especially from certain corners of the media, national media, big time, some of the local media. You've got the narratives that, again, that he was just a complete disaster in the playoffs last year. I don't think that was the case. I think it's the narratives. We tend to remember the negative plays. We tend to remember the fumbles,

Starting point is 00:09:02 but we don't quite remember the good throws against the Chargers. We don't remember the great throws against Houston because it's just, I guess, human nature that we always tend to remember what's not so good. And it's also recency bias. The last time we saw him on the field was, you know, before week one was the Super Bowl. so we sat all off season long saying, man, he was bad in that game.

Starting point is 00:09:27 He's got to be better. He's got to learn. And then for three quarters, he was fine. But then it all kind of reverted back to the very worst in that fourth quarter. So I think when you combine those three things, the narratives, we tend to remember negatives and the recency bias, I think that leads us to believe that he was an absolute puddle in the playoffs. And I would not agree with that.

Starting point is 00:09:52 Was he as good in the playoffs as he was in the regular season? Not close because he was so spectacular in the regular season. But play tends to decline in the postseason because you're playing against better teams, better defenses, and especially considering that was his first taste of the playoffs. And he also had to deal with some weather. There was weather in the Houston game and in the Denver game. So I thought overall, you know, if you look at that playoff run,

Starting point is 00:10:18 he was plus in two games and he was minus in two games. And then you got the fourth quarter in week one after he was overall pretty much to me in my, you know, system. He was a net neutral really in the first half. And I would argue through the first three quarters. Now, could he fall off a cliff? Yes. But a player that reaches the type of level that he reached early last year, that would be very rare. It's not impossible, but it would be very rare, which is why I,

Starting point is 00:10:52 I'm not panicking. I'm not panicking that, you know, Drake May is going to be an absolute disaster. I just, I'm not, I'm not believing that right now. We'll see how he responds. Coming up, the one position I could see the Pats adding to before we get to December.

Starting point is 00:11:08 This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Most people don't realize how much of their personal information is being bought and sold every day. Data brokers collect details about you from public records, the internet, then package and sell that information often without your consent. That can lead to more spam, targeted ads, and more. ORA helps protect your personal information by actively removing your data from data broker sites and keeping it off.

Starting point is 00:11:41 And ORA doesn't stop at data removal. It brings several layers of digital protection together in one app, making it easier to protect your information and identity. You know, changing a password is one thing, but protect. your personal information is a much bigger job. ORA can remove your information from those data broker sites and alert you if your information appears in a breach or on the dark web. Dark web, never good. Start your free child today at aura.com slash aware.

Starting point is 00:12:11 Again, protect yourself now at aura.com slash aware. ora.com slash aware. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever, only on Fandul. How rewarding are we talking? More rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring. More rewarding than an 18-point comeback. Maybe even more rewarding than an offensive lineman catching a touchdown. Yeah, give those big boys up front some love.

Starting point is 00:12:37 This season, Fandul is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all-new Fandul Rewards Club, featuring exclusive offers, surprises, and even more. Every week, check the Fandle app to see what's waiting for you. If you're sitting there watching the games like on Sunday, There's nothing like a game-winning play when everything comes down to the final seconds. And we had at least one of those in Detroit this past week. That feeling is what makes football so much fun. And Fandul is adding another layer of excitement with rewards and surprises throughout the season.

Starting point is 00:13:11 Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandul. That's right, the most rewarding ever. Visit fandul.com to get started. I can't say it enough, but I appreciate every single one of you. and thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everyday. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. If you're watching on YouTube, the likes and the comments, help us out an awful lot. All right, let's jump to our next question.

Starting point is 00:13:40 Today's mailbag. Again, we're going to do this every single week during the season on Wednesdays. K underscore Roberts 48. By the end of the year or trade deadline, what position do you think would be our biggest need? Okay, so this is obviously pretty difficult to predict as we walk into week two because of unknown injuries and we don't really know how the team is going to play. Are they going to respond well, for example, against the Steelers after what happened last week? But I'm going to take a stab. I'll take a stab, Kay Roberts.

Starting point is 00:14:11 And I still think Edge tops the list. You know, Harold Landry is still your best. I would say most accomplished defensive end on this roster. He is still the guy. Like healthy Harold Landry is better than anybody else you have in that room. Now, since again, it's week one. You look at Elijah Ponder, and I would say overall, except for very early in the game against the Seahawks,

Starting point is 00:14:43 I thought Ponder played pretty well, especially in the first half. I would say in the first half he played pretty well. Second half, he was a little bit more quiet. But maybe most importantly, he wasn't bad against the run. So as Potter continues to mature, maybe he grows into something better than we could ever anticipate. But right now, again, the question is, which position do I think would be the biggest need? And your best defensive end, we don't know if he's going to play this year.

Starting point is 00:15:14 Now, obviously, the Patriots believe he's going to play. because they would not have put him on the PUP, but they don't know with 100% certainty that he's going to play. And you don't know if Elijah Ponder is going to continue to be good against the runner good enough. Another issue that I think we need to talk about is Draymont Jones's usage. You know, Draymont Jones, he's 29 years old. And if you look at what he did last year, he played 38.4% of, the snaps in Tennessee. So last year he played 38.4% of the snaps in Tennessee. Then he was traded

Starting point is 00:15:56 to Baltimore and he played even less in Baltimore. He went from 38.4% of the snaps in Tennessee to 33.7% of the snaps in Baltimore. So you're talking about a guy who played, I don't know what that would be average wise. I'm going to throw it out there and guess 35% or so, 35, 36%. So he was playing a little bit more than a third of the plays last year. So how much are you willing to play him this season? And I am concerned for as long as Landry is out. And as they continue to, I think, slowly develop Gabe Accus. There's a concern for me that you're going to play Draymond Jones too much.

Starting point is 00:16:43 And, you know, if you're if you're leaning on him too much, does he wear down? And then by the time you get Landry back, if you get Landry back, you're getting Harold Landry back, but now you're dealing with a different type of Draymont Jones. And you could also blow that out to everybody else, right? If you're leaning massively on Draymont Jones and Ponder and Accus,

Starting point is 00:17:06 with Landry being the unknown, how are those bodies going to feel by week 14? I mean, Accus has the knee issue, right? Jones is 29. So I think it's edge. But the issue is it's very difficult to find a guy at, you know, that position that a team is willing to trade in season. Now, Tennessee did it last year with Jones sending him to Baltimore. So maybe you get that type of deal.

Starting point is 00:17:33 But I think it's, you know, most likely you have to survive and hope that Accus and or ponder pop for you. Landry returns. And then, of course, you sprinkle in some good scheme from Zach Corp. All right, next question from George Smith. Why don't we use any jumbo formation against Seattle after struggling to run? I think it's a fair question. I think it's a great question. I brought up the tight end usage at the end of our latest episode, right?

Starting point is 00:18:03 The fact that I didn't quite understand why you had both Tanner Ark and Cameron Lott to active when you did not play a single snap of three tight ends. I don't understand that. It makes no sense to me. If you have four tight ends active, then I better see at least a couple of snaps with three tight ends out there, especially when you're trying to establish the freaking run. So I do not understand that.

Starting point is 00:18:30 I do not understand that whatsoever. I think they need to sprinkle in some three tight end sets, especially when the box is on the lighter side defensively. Like throw those three tight ends, put Tanner Arkin in there. You know, they were running Eli Rairden. I mentioned this earlier in the week. Eli Rairden. I'm a big fan of Eli Rairden. All of you know that. But I thought the Patriots set him up to fail. You know, he's running a WAM block against Leonard Williams early in that game. He's not going to win that battle, not even close. So Arkin is on this roster to me to be the big, beefy, blocking

Starting point is 00:19:09 tight end. So you go into a game saying, we want to run the football, and, you know, we want to try to dominate this game as much as we can physically and our offensive line needs to dominate their defensive line, yada, yada, yada, yada. But then your biggest, you know, run blocking tight end because you're not going to use Hunter Henry in that role often is standing on the sidelines the entire game, aside from a couple of snaps on special teams. And then you've got Cameron Latsu. I understand not playing Latsu because he's new to the program. I understand not playing him offensively, but he's got special team snaps as well in that game. So I just did not understand that.

Starting point is 00:19:47 Three tight end sets. I've talked about this for the last year plus. They were a growing trend in the NFL. There are a way to combat the two deep safety looks that defenses are playing more and more. So I didn't get that. Patriots also did not play the jumbo, as you said, George, as much as I wanted them to.

Starting point is 00:20:05 You know, they decided to play Greg Van Routen a couple of times. One of those plays was the Rairedon touchdown. And I will say during camp, you know, play action, jumbo red zone plays, they were pretty effective, you know, playing that big personnel. But I'd like to see them in between the 20s as well. Now, maybe the Patriots just are not as keen as I am and you are on three tight ends or jumbo sets because I thought going into some of those playoff games last year, we would see more jumbo sets.

Starting point is 00:20:38 And that wasn't really the case. So maybe the Patriots just don't believe it like they can run that as well as I think they can run it. I thought they were pretty successful last year running that jumbo offensive line. But apparently they didn't feel like that was the way to go against Seattle. Now it's week one. We'll see if that changes. And of course, offense is always adapt. So maybe night one, week one, they said we're not going to play too much around with the three tight end deal. But I would, you know, maybe it'll get there slowly, but I would like to see more tight ends. I would like to see Reggie Gilliam get going.

Starting point is 00:21:15 I thought he was pretty meh in week one. And yeah, I would like to see six offensive linemen. I would like to see that jumbo formation. So especially if you want to run the football. Who are the most trustworthy players for Drake May without A.J. Brown active. My trust tiers are coming up next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

Starting point is 00:21:43 David Harrison here at the Lockdown Commanders podcast. Talk about Butcher Box. I'm someone who's always trying to make sure I'm getting enough protein. For me, that gets a whole lot easier when I've got a freezer full of the good stuff and I'm not stuck trying to figure out what to do for dinner. And I like having that quality protein ready to go, whether it's for the whole family or it's just for myself so I can avoid that dreaded takeout order. And butcher box delivers 100% grass-fed beef, organic chicken, wild-caught seafood,

Starting point is 00:22:10 and more all sorts to standards they can actually tell you about they've already done the work. So all you have to do is figure out what's for dinner. So if you're looking for an easier way to get great meals on the table, give Butcher Box a try. Go to butcherbox.com slash locked on NFL. You get $20 off your first box. Plus you get your choice of free rib-eye. That's the way I went.

Starting point is 00:22:30 New York strip or filet mignon in every box for a year. And you always get free shipping always. That's butcherbox.com slash locked on NFL. Again, butcherbox.com slash locked on NFL. Make sure you use our link so they know we sent you. Thanks for checking out the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Let's jump to our final mailbag question of the week from throwing 1233.

Starting point is 00:23:01 AJ Brown at best won't be back till week seven. Who do you put the most trust in to pick in? Okay, I'll start that over again. Who do you put the most trust in to pick up the slack? Romeo Dobbs, Hunter Henry, Pop Douglas. I talked a ton about how the Patriots, I think, are going to respond to this injury as far as how to deploy certain guys. But I like this because this is a different angle. And I do think you look at kind of like trust tiers, right, like guys that are going to be trusted more by Drake May than others.

Starting point is 00:23:34 And clearly, he's going to have his own trust tree, so to speak. So let me start with Mack Hollins. I think the most trust will go to Mac Hollins. And I think May believes in Hollins. Hollins has given him reason to believe because all Hollins has done is make plays for May. I mean, last year, Hollins was a tremendous part of the equation. I found it interesting that so many people paid close attention to Kay Sean Booty. when Matt Hollins was the better receiver on the average of the year,

Starting point is 00:24:14 on the balance of the year, Hollins was better than Booty. Now, Booty had more, you know, flashy plays deep down the field. But all Hollins does is make plays. You know, third down, third and long, fourth down. And so I think, and we saw that play out at the end of the game in week one. Now, unfortunately, the very end may trusted Hollins a little. bit too much and floated that terrible pick. But think about that drive leading to that final play.

Starting point is 00:24:45 Like if May doesn't throw that pick and the Patriots tie in the fourth quarter or win that game with that drive, we're going to look back at Hollins as the hero. I mean, he had two or three gigantic catches during that drive. So I think Hollins is number one on the list. He was good in Vegas with Josh McDaniels. He was good and very reliable last year. He stepped against Seattle week one. So I think he's the first guy. The second guy on the list, I think, is Hunter Henry. And Hunter Henry is an immediate red zone weapon with A.J. Brown out of the mix.

Starting point is 00:25:20 I think you look at Hollins. I think you look at Henry. Romeo Dobbs is also a good red zone receiver, but we'll talk about him coming up next. Henry, again, he has been a Drake May binkie. Ever since May started a game back in 2024, he looks for, Hunter Henry. He believes in Hunter Henry. Henry is sure-handed. He is incredibly tough. He displayed that toughness. When May, I thought made a terrible and accurate throw, Henry ended up making the catch, but Henry was going towards the sideline against Seattle in week one.

Starting point is 00:25:58 May threw it inside, and Henry took a shot. But he got right back up. He's a tough guy. six foot five, 250. You know, you look at Hollins, who's six four, two 25. We know that May loves throwing two bigger targets. So I think Henry is number two. I actually think Romeo Dobbs will end up being number three. Now, maybe, maybe not this week. But I think the Patriots are going to feed Dobbs the football.

Starting point is 00:26:27 They need to build his confidence up, man. I mean, what happened in week one? You can't let that linger. I would not be surprised if one of, if not the first pass attempt in the game on Sunday is May to Dobbs to try to get Dobbs past what happened against Seattle. You got to build that confidence. You paid him the money you paid him. You inevitably need Dobbs to be good for your team to be good this year,

Starting point is 00:26:56 even with A.J. Brown back. Now, if you want to look at it, glass half full with Dobbs, he's going to get more looks without AJ Brown. So maybe that gets him into his comfort zone. Maybe that does build his confidence. And by the time Brown returns in week seven or week eight, whenever it's going to be, now you have a Dobbs that is much more confident,

Starting point is 00:27:18 knows what he's doing in the offense, has built some trust within May, and then the second half of the year, you can kind of take off running. Now, we saw Dobbs have a really good camp. So it's there, it's there. he's just got to be better than he was in week one. And then you have more than enough of the other guys to sprinkle in.

Starting point is 00:27:38 You know, Pop Douglas, I don't know if the trust is still fully there yet. I mean, again, we saw it in week one where Douglas is open down the middle of the field and May doesn't throw it to him. Douglas was open a couple of other times in that game and May did not find him. So I would put Pop Douglas behind those guys. I also think you've got to include Ramandre Stevenson. You know, Ramandre Stevenson is another guy, as I got to plug my power in, let me plug my power in. You know, Ramandre Stevenson is another one of those guys who I think can be a much better receiver than, you know, people give him credit for.

Starting point is 00:28:13 You remember the great catch last year against Miami in Miami down towards the boundary, downfield on the right side where, you know, May did a great job of keeping both hands on the ball and he moved up in the pocket and hit Mondre for that deep shot. So I think Stevenson would be a part of that next mix. Obviously, Kyle Williams is part of that next mix, Travion Henderson, Eli Rairden. But to me, you know, you start with Hollins, you move to Henry, then you get to Dobbs to try to get him going. And there's other stuff you can do offensively, right? There's other things you can do. Like, can you get your screen game going? They weren't great with the screen passes last year.

Starting point is 00:28:55 Can that improve this season? we can see more of that, especially if it's effective. Can they run the ball and not have your running back have to get, you know, 50 of his 51 yards after contact? Can you block it up more consistently and get that run game going? But those are the trust here to me. It's it's Hollins, it's Henry, then it's Dobbs because you've got to get them going. And then everybody else kind of falls in line from there with Pop and Mondrae and Williams.

Starting point is 00:29:24 And, you know, maybe Efton Chisham gets a shot. but I still think you're to start with those top four receivers before you get to Chisholm. All right, that wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thanks for all the questions. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe on YouTube. And now I send you to the video. That's right.

Starting point is 00:29:43 Send you to the video first ever 24-7 YouTube channel on the NFL right here at Lockdown. And on the audio side, check out Lockdown Fantasy Football with Fabs and Marcus for your second listen. Everybody, have a great day. Catch up with you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Panic?: Drake Maye’s Recent Struggles—How Concerned Should Fans Get?

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.