Drake Maye’s Sunday afternoon turned into a highlight for all the wrong reasons, and the New England Patriots are left staring at a real quarterback question just three weeks into the 2026 NFL season.
Against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Maye became an instant meme after losing a fumble in a way that looked almost impossible. He appeared to lose the ball while trying to throw, with no pressure on him from the Jaguars defense.
That kind of mistake has piled onto a rough start. Maye now has five turnovers this season, and four of them have been interceptions. That’s a sharp drop from what Patriots fans saw last year, when he threw just eight interceptions across the entire 2025 campaign.
The inconsistency has been the story. For a player who arrived with so much hype in his third NFL season, this is not the version New England expected to see. Even the 2025 postseason hinted at problems, with several Patriots games finishing with the offense stuck under 20 points.
Nobody is calling for the Patriots to make a drastic move with their 2024 first-round pick. But the concern is there, especially for a franchise that spent so long living with elite quarterback play. After years of Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe, this is unfamiliar territory.
The situation is made even tougher by the absence of A.J. Brown, who is out injured for at least several more weeks and represents a major loss for the passing game.
In a league that lives and dies on results, the Patriots know exactly how this works. And with the standard this franchise has set over the last 25 years, the questions around Maye are only getting louder.
In Other News...
Vrabels Explanation For Benching A Patriots Veteran Will Sting Fans
The Patriots are already trying to steady themselves after opening the 2026 season at 1-2, and the loss to the Jaguars only added to the early unease around the team. One of the more notable in-game moves came when head coach Mike Vrabel pulled veteran offensive lineman Morgan Moses, a decision that quickly stood out because it was tied not to injury or performance alone, but to Vrabel's sense of the bigger picture.
Vrabel's explanation carried an edge that Patriots fans are not used to hearing from a head coach in September. He pointed to the long season ahead and said he did not believe the team was likely to win, an unusually blunt admission that lands hard for a roster still trying to find its footing. For a veteran like Moses, being taken out under those circumstances says plenty about where the game was headed, and even more about how quickly the mood around New England has shifted. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Need More From Kevin Byard Than Theyve Seen So Far
Kevin Byard arrived in New England with a reputation that suggested instant help on the back end, the kind of veteran safety the Patriots hoped could steady a defense that has looked better than its record in spots. After leading the league in interceptions last season, he signed a one-year deal and brought obvious name value, plus the expectation that he would make quarterbacks pay for mistakes.
Three games in, though, the production has not matched the resume. Byard has yet to record an interception or forced fumble, and the concern is less about one quiet stretch than whether he can still deliver at the level that made the signing appealing in the first place. His age, along with past trends for players coached by Al Harris, only sharpen the pressure on him to turn limited impact into something more meaningful for a Patriots defense that could use the boost. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Put Drake Maye In A Tough Spot They Created
The Patriots spent the 2025 offseason reshaping their roster, but the changes have left Drake Maye operating with far less margin for error than the team probably intended. Releasing Stefon Diggs and trading Kayshon Boutte stripped away two of the more recognizable pass-catching options around the young quarterback, and the offense has not found an easy way to replace that production.
Mayes early-season struggles have reflected the larger problem, with interceptions piling up while the receiving group has thinned further because of the absence of key players like Diggs, Boutte and the injured A.J. Brown. For a team trying to build around a developing quarterback, the issue is not just that Maye has had to play through mistakes - it is that the Patriots have created a setup where those mistakes are much harder to absorb. [Read more 🡒]