New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel admits Drake Maye's athleticism and freelancing talents took him by surprise as the young quarterback resumes his debut playoff campaign on Sunday.
Both he and Vrabel's New England have become one of the stories of the 2025 NFL season, launching a return to contention in the post-Tom Brady era.
Maye has thrust himself into MVP contention in his second year in the league, and will now lead the Patriots out against the Houston Texans with a place in the AFC Championship Game on the line.
The Patriots arrive having beaten the Los Angeles Chargers during Wild Card weekend, while the Texans are led by the league's best defense having swarmed Aaron Rodgers on the way to victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"I've always said that there's an athleticism to him" Vrabel told Your Site. "And I don't know if that gets overlooked, but the athleticism to be able to throw and be accurate from all over the place, and it's probably not what they teach and coach.
"It's like watching Steph Curry shoot threes. You're like, how'd that just go in? I don't know. But he didn't have his feet square, he extends, he slides, he gets out, you know, he's off-platform, he's on one foot and he's really accurate.
"That probably caught me off guard, but his ability to keep his eyes downfield and remain a passer is something that they worked extremely hard on.
Maye has established himself as one of the most polished young signal-callers in football, recording a league-high completion percentage of 72 while leading all quarterbacks with a passer rating of 113.5 as he threw for 4,394 yards (fourth-most) and 31 touchdowns to just eight interceptions.
His surge has featured as part of a blossoming union with Josh McDaniels, who is in his third stint as Patriots offensive coordinator.
Maye had spent his rookie campaign working with then-offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and one-and-done head coach Jerod Mayo, going 3-9 as a starter.
"I think Josh has really done a nice job," said Vrabel. "Ashton (quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant) is a young quarterback coach and Josh has got a lot of experience with a lot of quarterbacks not named Tom Brady. That was the thing that I always valued about Josh is he's won with a lot of quarterbacks other than Tom.
"He's improved a lot of things. I don't think that they can necessarily improve his athleticism. That's what God gave him.
"And so he can scramble, he can extend. I mean in the last two games, we've had end of half situations where we needed a chunk and that chunk has been Drake running for 30 some yards in one game and then 20 some in the other.
"That's a pretty good end of half chunk play to get the clock stopped and gain some yards again in the field goal range."
The dynasty era of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, amounting to six Super Bowl rings in Foxboro, makes for not only a rich history but meaty expectations for anybody tasked with playing under center in New England.
There is no such thing as replacing Brady, or replacing Belichick's Patriots, but in Maye and Vrabel a new chapter is officially in progress as the franchise celebrates its first 14-win campaign since 2016 and first AFC East division title since 2019.
"There's a bunch of banners in this stadium, what I said was, those are amazing and they're not going to help us win, but it's a blueprint for that," said Vrabel of his Patriots team.
"We've tried to create an identity, I appreciate our play demeanour, I think we play hard, I think we care about our teammates, I think we try to protect the guy with the ball. You see guys turning and blocking down the field and there's certain things that we believe in.
"I think we try to make the best decisions possible out there, I don't think we do too many things that are reckless and doing too many things after the whistle, we're not punching guys, we're not blindside blocking guys.
"Just making good decisions and not doing stuff that hurts the team, I think guys have taken to that and I think we're a pretty close group. Most importantly, they're having fun, I think they enjoy coming to work."
Vrabel, who was fired as Tennessee Titans head coach in 2023, had always felt like the right and obvious choice in New England upon Mayo's departure. Having won three Super Bowls with the team as a player, he can attest to what it takes to win football's ultimate prize.
"Outside of talent, I would say that the ability for each other in the team to hold each other accountable," he said. "I can only go so far and at some point in time, the players are going to have to be the ones that are going to have to do that.
"And we're starting to figure that out a little bit. But my job, I always say, is to protect the team and I don't mind doing it. I just would rather not do it all the time and hopefully, you know, these guys can improve as leaders and, you know, start to understand that."
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