Drake Maye’s rough opening to the 2026 season has now drawn heat from one of the loudest voices in sports media, and Bill Simmons isn’t letting Mike Vrabel off the hook either.
On Monday’s episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast", Simmons went after the Patriots quarterback after two uneven games and suggested Vrabel’s own sharpness may be slipping too.
"Post-Sedona Vrabel? I wouldn't say he's as crisp," Simmons said.
"There's some clock management stuff that he missed today that I was like, 'Oh, Vrabel doesn't usually miss that stuff.' Maye has been a mess.
He just has."
Simmons pointed to Maye’s shaky throwing, the deep balls he’s left short, and a pocket presence that hasn’t matched what he showed in 2025. The “Sedona” line was a shot at the controversy earlier this year involving Vrabel and NFL reporter Dianna Russini.
Photos of the pair at a luxury resort in Sedona, Arizona, led to an internal investigation by The Athletic, and Vrabel stepped away from team duties for a while.
The Patriots did pick up their first win of the season on Sunday, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Maye still didn’t clean things up. He went 14 of 22 for 208 yards with no touchdowns and one interception.
That came after a difficult Week 1 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, when Maye completed 23 of 33 passes for 178 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions in a 13-10 defeat. Through two games, he’s at 386 passing yards, one touchdown and four interceptions.
Stephen A. Smith has also weighed in on Maye after the opener, and he wasn’t ready to buy into the hype either. Smith said Maye’s three fourth-quarter interceptions against Seattle did not move him any closer to believing in the quarterback as a top-tier player.
“When it comes to Drake Maye, did it change my perception? No, because my perception, I’ve never been sold on him.
He’s not a scrub. He’s somebody that can play,” Smith said on Thursday.
Smith added that Maye can start in the NFL, but said he still isn’t convinced the quarterback has the upside to become great. He also raised concerns about how Maye handles pressure.
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