Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Rough: New England Patriots' Offense Stumbles, Drake Maye Inaccurate at Practice

Episode Date: July 26, 2026

New England Patriots offense faces early turbulence at training camp as Drake Maye struggles with accuracy and notches his first interception. Will Maye bounce back, or should fans already be concerned? Nick Cattles explores Maye’s rocky start, the growing pains of a revamped offense featuring newcomers A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs, and the fierce competition heating up at quarterback with Behren Morton impressing in his first NFL camp. Key discussion points include the chemistry challenges on offense, standout defensive plays by Christian Gonzalez and Milton Williams, and Kayshon Boutte’s bid to win over coaches with back-to-back highlight practices. Updates on injuries, roster movements, and how Josh McDaniels’ play-calling might get the most out of this year’s weapons round out the conversation. Can the Patriots offense find its rhythm before the season opener against Seattle, or will expectations need to be tempered? Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-patriots/ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/ #patriots #newenglandpatriots Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season. KALSHI For a limited time, Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get up to $500 in bonus credits when you trade $25. Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl! #squarepod Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Drake May and the offense struggles with the second day of training camp, but we're far away from hitting any type of panic button. This is Lockdown 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. On today's show, Kishon Booty has practiced twice and might already be pressing the

Pats to change their minds. In the second segment, tempering early expectations for a highly anticipated offense. But first, speaking of offense, day two wasn't good to them. Today's episode is brought to by Kalshi for a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code locked on to get up to $500 in bonus credits when you trade $25. Tough day at the office for Drake May and the offense on Sunday day two of training camp and Drake May was inaccurate all day long. Evan Lazar posted shaky start for the top offense with Drake May's first interception of camp, sailed one too high for A.J. Brown on a crosser that deflected off Brown and landed in Craig Woodson's lap. Christian Gonzalez also undercut a boot cross for a pass breakup. Mark Daniels,

through two full team periods. The defense has given Drake May some issues. Christian Gonzalez has a breakup. Craig Woodson, an interception, and Milton Williams deflected a pass. Taylor Kyle's posted. Drake May throws slightly behind Romeo Dobbs on a dig, and it's broken up by Carlton Davis. shaky accuracy from May so far today. Again, Taylor Kyle's posts Drake May misses an open, Eli Rairden, high on a bootleg left. Mark Daniels with the final numbers for Drake May, day two of training camp, 11 on 11s. He finished six for 12 with that interception to Craig Woodson. We've got to find the balance.

And I am going to try to find the balance here as we break down camp day in and day out. Finding the balance of not overreacting to the blow by blow pass attempts this camp, right? I don't want to overreact to a couple of throws. I'm not going to overreact to a single day of practice. What happened last year, what we saw from Drake May, how great he was, we are beyond freaking out over a single day. We are beyond freaking out over a couple of questionable passes.

We are beyond all of that. So I understand. I understand some of you might be saying, Nick, why are we talking about it? because we have to update not only the growth of the quarterback, but more importantly, we have to update the growth of this offense day to day as we're heading into those joint practices. You have a joint practice against the Indianapolis Colts.

You have two joint practices against the Philadelphia Eagles. The joint practice against the Colts is coming up in a couple of weeks. the joint practices against the Eagles a little under a month from right now. So while we're not going to freak out, we're not going to sit here and punch panic buttons over Drake May being inaccurate on the second day of training camp, we are going to give you the latest. We are going to update you on how the quarterback looks,

how this offense looks. It's our job to do so. But I want to underline, we are going to do that responsibly. We're not going to go bananas. Now, we can say that Drake May does have a history of inaccurate stretches. Well, whether it's through a series or it is through, you know, a camp practice day, maybe a couple of camp practice days. He does have, he does have in his history some inaccurate stretches.

So it should not be shocking when Drake May has a day like this, especially early in camp. We have to understand, we have to acknowledge, we have to appreciate and even embrace that there are going to be days like these and that Drake May's inaccuracy is going to pop up from time to time. Now, while Drake May has a history of being inaccurate at times

and having inaccurate stretches, Drake May also has a history of responding well to those stretches. Monday is going to be a walkthrough. So not much is going to get done. Let's be honest, a walkthrough at training camp. You just went through your first two full days of practice. Monday's walkthrough is going to be incredibly uneventful. But I am fascinated to see what happens on Tuesday when Drake May and the offense are back out there and it's not a walkthrough.

Because I would expect Drake May to respond because that's what he usually does. And that's part of the reason why you love Drake May. it's his mental toughness, it's his competitiveness, it's his work ethic. So when he has a practice like he had on Sunday, usually he takes that to heart. And he will go out there the next time when it is competitive, and he will be much, much better. And that's what I would expect from the quarterback on Tuesday once you get through Monday's walkthrough. So Drake May and the offense overall, that first unit, tough day at the office. office. Not a big deal. Throw it in the garbage. Move on. Learn from what you did wrong.

Learn from the possible issues that the offense had and correct those issues, correct those mistakes and continue to push forward towards those joint practices against Indy and against Philadelphia. One more quarterback note before I get to the offense as a whole in tempering expectations. Baron Morton is off to a good start for the Patriots. Now, of course, right now, Baron Morton is your emergency quarterback, your third string quarterback, seventh round pick, not a lot expected from him in his first camp. He's off to a good start, though. He was five for six on Sunday. He was accurate, and maybe even more impressive, Taylor Kyle's posted, Baron Morton's poise in the pocket has stood out the past two days,

got quick pressure at the top of his drop, stepped up to scramble, then saw his outlet and hit Miles Montgomery underneath. So Baron Morton's doing what he can do given the opportunities he's going to get. And it is going to be fun. It's going to be fun to see if Baron Morton can actually push Tommy DeVito a little bit. For the sake of competition, You don't want even the backup quarterback to just waltz on in with the gig,

especially when that backup quarterback is young like Tommy DeVito. You drafted Baron Morton in the seventh round. Lottery ticket. We've talked about drafting quarterbacks every year, no matter if you have a franchise guy like Drake Mae or not, it goes back to the old school of Elliott Wolf's dad, Ron Wolf, with the Green Bay Packers of you keep taking swings at that position because it's the most valuable position in all of sports.

If Baron Morton can push Tommy DeVito, that's a good job by the scouting staff. That's a good job by the front office. It's a good job spending that seventh round pick on Baron Morton. So we're going to keep an eye on him and see if he can push Tommy DeVito. And if we have inevitably a legitimate backup quarterback competition, again, that would only be good for everyone involved. So happy to read that Baron Morton's off to a good start. in his first NFL camp. All right, coming up, I'll tell you why we should all temper our early expectations for this offense.

This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Before the season even kicks off, everyone's making predictions. Who wins the division? Who makes the playoffs? Who's lifting the trophy at season's end on Calci America's number one prediction market platform? you can trade those predictions in a live market.

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help us out on YouTube, like, comment, and subscribe. The goal, 11,000 subscribers by Wednesday night, week one against the Seahawks in Seattle. Give us that thumbs up. Your thoughts on Drake May and his inaccuracy on day two of training camp. You could throw a comment in. And again, help us by subscribing. Big time expectations. I have big time expectations for this offense. And we've talked about it all off season long, the acquisitions. I mean, I am super excited to see AJ Brown and Romeo Dobbs go to work. I have big time expectations. However, I also expect some early camp struggles from this offense. And we bring you back to the last segment we just did about Drake May and not being too hyperbolic and not freaking out over a bad day of practice

or a tough stretch of a practice or two, those things happen, especially early in camp. And for this offense, I think you can blow that up. You can look at the quarterback conversation we just had last segment, and you can blow that up and talk about this entire offense. And understanding that even though you have high expectations, if you do like I do, for this offense this season, you can also understand and be reasonable

and expect early camp struggles. There's lots of new in this offense. I mean, you can go out and you can acquire A.J. Brown. You can sign Romeo Dobbs, but they are new to the program. A.J. Brown was traded for at the very beginning of June. So he's less than two months in. And we know the Josh McDaniels offense tends to take time. Stefan Diggs did a terrific job last year.

I would expect over the next couple of weeks, AJ Brown and Romeo Dobbs will pick things up more and more and look even more comfortable. The AJ Brown, Drake May chemistry was very good at mandatory minicamp. But let's remember. That doesn't mean that every single day, again, especially early in camp, that the passing game is going to eat.

there's a lot of new, and we've got to give this thing some time to breathe. Because it's not just A.J. Brown and Romeo Dubs. You also have a lot of new and or different on the offensive line. Elijah Vera Tucker, coming back from injury. Now you're a left guard. Might need a little bit of time. Jared Wilson going back to playing center. That communication, that chemistry, that connection between your center. and Jared Wilson and Drake May. We discussed it a couple of months ago when we knew this move was going to happen that it might take a little time for the center and quarterback to be completely clean on a consistent basis. You've got Caleb Lomu, rookie, new to the league, being an important part

of this offensive line. You've got James Hudson, first time with the Patriots, trying to learn this offense, figure things out. You're leaning on, Eli, Rairden, which I don't think was the original plan, right? You had Hunter Henry and Julian Hill for a reason. When Eli Rairden was drafted, we expected, hey, he's going to be your third tight end. He'll get some snaps, but you don't, thankfully, have to lean on him. Well, now you have to lean on him, especially given the fact that Hunter Henry, like he did on Sunday, is going to be managed. Hunter Henry's not going to be out there as much as he would have been if he were 25 years old. So you're leaning on Eli Rairden to figure things out quickly as a rookie. So there's just, there's lots of new.

There's lots of inexperience within this offense. Drake May can help, but he's only going to help so much until these guys have a firm grasp on what's going on out there. The second reason why I would temper my expectations early in this. camp for this offense, is that the defense is legitimate, man. And that's the good news. Milton Williams and Christian Barmore versus a returning Elijah Vera Tucker and Jared Wilson, again, getting starter reps consistently for the first time at the NFL level, might take those guys some time to get readjusted when you're going against two very talented

interior defensive linemen. I mean, I waxed poetic about the defensive backs last week. I don't think we have to dive in deep. But, you know, the defensive backs supremely talented and they're veterans. They're not only super talented. They're veterans. And when we talk about veterans and experience, the defense is loaded with experience. And they're also loaded with chemistry.

You look at this starting defense, the projected starting defense right now. You've got two new additions. You've got Draymont Jones and you've got Kevin Byard. Draymont Jones at defensive end. He's been in the league for a while. It's not rocket science to figure out your role when you're playing edge. You would expect Draymont Jones to quickly adapt. And Kevin Byard, I mean, Kevin Byard, he's not new.

He's new to the Patriots, but he is not new to this defense. Kevin Byrd played for years under Mike Vrable at Tennessee. He knows this defense. He understands the system, and I'm sure there have been tweaks over time, but he gets the general idea of what they are trying to accomplish down in and down out. He understands his assignments. So not only Kevin Byard, who's going to be 33 years old, not only has he been in the league for as long as he's been in the league,

which will help him adapt to any system. He's walking over to New England to play a system he has years of experience in. So just think about it. Think about the difficulty of the Josh McDaniels offense, the new pieces we discussed on that side of the football, and then you flip it. You flip it and you look at the defense and you say, well, you know, nine of the 11 guys are returning, right? Nine of the 11 guys that we expect to be out there starting, they were here in 2025. So they should be ahead of the offense. defensively, one hand knows what the other is doing.

Offensively, that's not quite the case for everybody who's going to be out there. Another reason why we should temper our expectations early in camp for this offense is that it's just the early days of training camp. In the early days of training camp, you know, you are working on things. you have a specific set of things that you want to accomplish. You're trying to also find some type of rhythm. So you're trying to gain the chemistry as guys are experiencing the system for the first time. You are working on several different things that you think you want to iron out early sooner rather than later. You're just trying to find the basic rhythm.

And let's not forget that Mike Vrable, discussed with the media before day one of training camp that they want to work on tempo. That's another challenge, right? You've got a, you've got a quarterback who is going to be more responsible at the line of scrimmage this year for all the things on his plate. He's going to be more involved. So you've got the quarterback who is taking a step in his development at the line of scrimmage behind five guys with a couple of tweaks, with Morgan Moses being managed.

You got two right tackles who were not here in 2025. So you're dealing with that. You've got two new top receivers. You're dealing with that. And you're trying to find a rhythm. And you're also trying to set a tempo. And you're changing that tempo. So there's a lot of stuff at work.

And as Greg Bedard pointed out, on Sunday, he posted, The Patriots still are not running their offense. It's all outside zone and boots. So they're trying different things. So not only do you have to learn the offense, but you're also heading out there and doing, you know, different things where the quarterback might not necessarily be 100% set and ready to go. So there are a lot of layers to these conversations.

And I would just say to all of you, remember last year when Drake May started OTAs, he threw four interceptions. And there were some in the Boston media, and even in the national, national media that we're burning the house down. Like one OTA practice, four picks, the offense is going to be a mess. They're relying on a guy who's in his 30s coming off ACL surgery. Just try to do what I'm trying to do here. Do not get lost within all of the hyperbole.

Don't lose yourself in that hyperbole. It's reasonable to question certain things. it is reasonable to look at the day-to-day growth or lack thereof and have those conversations. But it's also very reasonable to understand we've had two days of training camp. And this team has a lot of work to do before they kick off in September in Seattle. So no reason to freak out. And there is reason to temper the expectations, at least early in this camp for this offense because of all those aspects that I just discussed.

But you know who's not off to a slow start? Kishan Booty. Kishan Booty is already making his mark this summer. We'll have that and more next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks for checking out the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. Again, we are two days into training camp.

but Kishan Booty, he is already showing some signs of wanting to make things tough on the Patriots. We know he's been discussed on the trade market, going back to the draft. That's when we first saw it, that the Patriots were having conversations and in letting teams know that Kishan Booty was available. And Kishan Booty's out there, full participant, he's making place. So if Kishan Bouti, if his goal is to make it tough on the Patriots to just trade him, to let him go, well, again, it's really early, but two days in, mission accomplished so far. Day one, Kisham Bouti had the highlight diving chunk play from Drake May. Day two, he had a highlight of the day play again.

So the two biggest offensive highlights to the first two days of camp, Both belong to Kashon Booty. Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald posted. Kishon Booty stops and whirls to the sideline to nab a 20-plus-yard back-shoulder throw from Drake May with Carlton Davis in coverage, and his helmet pops off again as he lays out to make the catch. And if you're Kishan Booty, you know, you know that you are going to have limited opportunities

for reps at practice. You're not going to be out there a ton. So if you are Kashan Bouti, this camp, especially the first couple of weeks, this camp is all about quality versus quantity. In the limited opportunities that you get to make plays, are you making plays? And so far the first two days of camp,

that answer unequivocally for Kishon Bouty is yes. Yes, Kishan Booty has been making plays, getting noticed, making it a little bit tougher on the Patriots, to look at him as just another guy. And that's Kishon Booty's job. Quality versus quantity. Off to a great start. As a matter of fact, Kevin Byard,

who's been to a lot of NFL camps, according to Mike Reese, He singled out Kisham Booty. Mike Reese posted. Kevin Byard says Kisham Booty has caught his attention as a deep ball threat after making downfield catches each of the first two days of camp. So Kevin Byard's like, that guy's, that guy's doing well. He's got my eye. And Kevin Byard, first team all pro safety,

who played on the Titans with talented receivers, you know, played with the Bears last season. some talented receivers. If Kevin Byrd is saying Kisham Bouti is sticking out to him, then that means much more than me saying Kishan Bouti is sticking out at training camp. And maybe the biggest development with Kishan Bouti through the first two days is that Bouty might not be limited by A.J. Brown's presence as the Boundary X receiver. You know, we talked about this during the offseason.

I was skeptical of whether or not Kishon Booty would be able to find time on the field because we know Booty has pretty much exclusively been that boundary X guy. And you're bringing in A.J. Brown and you sign Romeo Dobbs, both guys very capable of playing on the outside, playing up against the boundary. And you would think, well, with those moves, it's going to be tough for Kay Sean Booty to find his opportunity and make the mark. But apparently through the first two days, booty has not necessarily been limited by A.J. Brown's presence.

Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston posted, the Patriots are finding ways to get Booty and Brown on the field at the same time. So when you look at the Kashan Booty play from Sunday's practice, that play had A.J. Brown on the field. So that could change the conversation. Josh McDaniels finding ways to get Kishon Booty on the football field with A.J. Brown, that could change the conversation. You could slide A.J. Brown into the slot.

I've said it. I'll say it again. I expect A.J. Brown to play more inside this year than he played last year. He played in the slot only like 12 to 13 percent of the time last year for the Eagles. I think he will be in the slot more this year for the Patriots. So you could split it between Dobbs and Booty. You still have the Kyle Williams question. But the Patriots are finding ways early in this camp

to get Keishan Booty at least some opportunities, not a ton, but trying to find ways to get him and A.J. Brown on the field at the same time to see what that looks like. And we know what Josh McDaniels, you know, wide receiver versatility is a huge part of his offense. The more guys that he has that he can deploy in different spots on the line of scrimmage, the more damaging this offense can be. All right. Some other notes from day two of camp.

Gabe Accus, we broke the news on Saturday of Gabe Accus agreeing to a contract finally. Gabe Accus officially signed his contract on Sunday morning. The Patriots on social media. they posted a picture of Gabacus signing said contract. Now, if you sign a contract, that means you pass the physical. Gabacus is not signing a contract with guaranteed money involved until he gets his physical and he passes said physical. So this should, this should tell us Gabacus passed his physical.

Now, he was not out on the field on Sunday. I thought he would be. Patriots probably slow rolling it, not a big deal. Maybe they said to themselves, the walkthrough was on Monday, so we'll give them an extra couple of days. They have an off day, I believe, on Wednesday. So maybe they'll wait for Acus to get out there until Thursday or Friday. Maybe they'll give him a little bit of a taste on Tuesday before the day off so his body can, you know, respond and get the rehab it needs. But he signed his contract. That should tell us the physical is all good and he is absolutely good to go when Mike Vrable decides it's time to pull the trigger. Christian Gonzalez, second straight day on Sunday. He was a full participant

at training camp. He's going full throttle. Shout out Tom Warner. He's going full throttle so far the first two days of camp. And I'm not going to recycle what I said on Saturday's podcast, the live stream we did. I'm just surprised. I'm surprised he's going full throttle. It's a risk for him, but he's out there. He's being a great teammate. Reggie Gilliam was not at practice on Sunday, not sure if it's injury related, not sure what's going on, but Reggie Gilliam was absent. We obviously want to keep an eye on that. The Patriots recently released Brock Lampy, who was going to be the backup fullback. Of course, you know, Reggie Gilliam could be part of that list of veterans who are going to be managed. Gilliam turns 29 years old in about a month or so. So maybe it's just a management day,

but Reggie Gilliam was absent. A.J. Brown, he got on the board. His first catch of camp, quick slant route. So he is finally on the board, nothing to write home about or go bananas about, but he gets a catch. Second day of camp, AJ Brown's first catch from Drake May. Again, there is going to be a walkthrough on Monday. I would expect it to be highly uneventful. We'll see if that's right or wrong,

but they have the walkthrough on Monday back at it on Tuesday with a little bit more juice. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe here on YouTube if you're watching us here. And thank you for making a lockdown Patriots your first listen. For your second listen, check out Lockdown NFL scouting.

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