Have the Patriots done enough along the offensive line to support Drake Maye?

Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterAug 18, 2024, 06:00 AM ET

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Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Quick-hit thoughts and notes around the New England Patriots and NFL:

1. OL and Maye: Rookie quarterback Drake Maye's second preseason stint ended with a painful thud when Eagles outside linebacker Nolan Smith Jr. crunched him from the blind side in a high-impact collision. Smith's momentum resulted in him landing on top of Maye.

On what was mostly a promising night for No. 3 pick in the draft, the play provided a reminder of one of the lingering questions for the Patriots as they consider when they might be comfortable turning things over to him.

Have they done enough to support him?

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Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf has talked multiple times about providing the necessary infrastructure to help a rookie quarterback succeed, especially after being part of the personnel staff in the final years of Bill Belichick's tenure and experiencing how not doing so had such damaging effects on quarterback Mac Jones.

There are many ways to provide that support and one of the most obvious is a stable offensive line, which the Patriots are struggling to achieve.

Among the primary concerns is backup center, which is partially a result of losing 2023 fourth-round pick Jake Andrews to an undisclosed injury for the season. They botched three center/quarterback exchanges in Thursday's 14-13 preseason loss to the Eagles, which head coach Jerod Mayo called one of the night's biggest disappointments. Because of the lack of depth at the position, they are limiting starter David Andrews' playing time.

Mayo also bluntly critiqued the state of the offensive line in saying: "There's a dramatic drop-off -- not really physically but just knowing what to do -- between the first line and the second and third guys."

Now 15 practices into training camp, and with two preseason games played, it seems fair to ask whether Wolf and his staff did enough to address what was also a trouble spot last season, whether they need to be more aggressive in addressing the issue now, and whether that is even realistic given what's available.

Patriots signed tackle Chukwuma Okorafor (77) in free agency and re-signed offensive lineman Mike Onwenu (71) to be pillars of their offensive line. Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire

The Patriots have been committed to sticking with an interior of left guard Sidy Sow, center David Andrews and right guard Mike Onwenu. They certainly were aggressive in re-signing Onwenu to a three-year, $57 million deal in free agency.

Meanwhile, free agent signing Chukwuma Okorafor (one year, $4 million) has settled into the top spot at right tackle with mixed results, while much-maligned third-year man Vederian Lowe has been the top left tackle for 10 of the 15 practices. It was a miscommunication with Lowe and chipping running back Kevin Harris that led to Maye getting crunched on his final play Thursday night.

"You never want to see your quarterback take a lot of shots in the game, but it is part of the game," Mayo said. "That's what makes quarterbacks special -- the ones that can get smacked, just get right back up, and move on to the next play."

That's true, but too many hits to a rookie quarterback can also lead to longer-term trauma that adversely affects development. The Browns' Tim Couch (No. 1 pick in 1999) and Texans' David Carr (No. 1 pick in 2002) -- sacked 56 and 72 times, respectively, in their rookie seasons -- are two examples most often cited in that regard.

Looking back at possible moves the Patriots could have made in the offseason, the free-agent tackle class wasn't stocked with plentiful options. As director of player personnel Matt Groh said a couple seasons ago, "There aren't too many teams in the league that aren't looking for tackles."

Former Bengal Jonah Williams, who inked a two-year, $30 million pact with the Cardinals, would have been one consideration to pursue. Former Cowboy Tyron Smith, who landed with the Jets on a one-year, $6.5 million deal, is another -- although there's no guarantee he would have wanted to be part of a rebuilding situation. Jermaine Eluemunor, who played for the Patriots in 2019-20, landed with the Giants (two years, $14 million) as he followed his position coach Carmen Bricillo there.

Veteran Donovan Smith, 31, is among those currently available. He started 12 games at left tackle for the Super Bowl champion Chiefs last season.

The Patriots could also look for solutions within, bumping Onwenu back to right tackle, flipping Okorafor to left tackle (no sure thing) while inserting fourth-round pick Layden Robinson at right guard. Or they could turn back to third-round pick Caedan Wallace, who was the top left tackle for a four-practice stretch earlier in training camp, and see how he responds to the challenge.

If it's the status quo, as the big hit on Maye showed on Thursday night, a case could be made that Maye's insertion into the lineup should be delayed until things settle down -- if they ever do at all.

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2. Ox benefits: If there's one player who benefits most from Matthew Judon being traded to the Falcons for a 2025 third-round pick, it might be fifth-year outside linebacker Oshane Ximines, who was viewed as a player on the bubble entering training camp. The 6-foot-4, 254-pound Ximines was mentioned by defensive lineman Deatrich Wise Jr. as someone the team would be relying on to fill Judon's void along with Keion White, Anfernee Jennings and Joshua Uche.

"Ox has been great," added outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins. "Came in here, learned the playbook quickly, humble approach to everything -- a guy that wants to play the run, set the edge and do the dirty work. He fits right in this defense."

3. No. 3 hitter: All teams are required to trim rosters from 90 players to 53 by 4 p.m. on Aug. 27, but some of those moves will come earlier than that. The Patriots have the third-highest priority in the waiver-wire order and given some of the obvious needs on the roster (e.g. offensive line, defensive tackle, tight end etc.), it sets up a critical stretch for the team's pro personnel staff led by Patrick Stewart and Sam Fiorini to add roster-worthy players from teams who maybe didn't have room for them due to depth.

4. Brissett's status: As important as Maye's development is to the future of the franchise, not to be overlooked is that the Patriots still need to get veteran Jacoby Brissett extended work in the preseason finale to build momentum entering the regular season. In four drives this preseason, he is 3-of-10 for 17 yards, with one costly end-zone interception.

"A lot of room for growth, obviously," Brissett said.

5. CBs seek consistency: The Patriots know they have Jonathan Jones, Christian Gonzalez and Marcus Jones atop their cornerback depth chart, but after that is an evolving picture headlined by Marco Wilson, Alex Austin, Isaiah Bolden, Shaun Wade and Marcellas Dial Jr., with no one able to separate at this point.

"The frustrating part is that it depends on what day you look out there," Mayo said. "It's up and down, up and down, and it's about consistency in this league."

6. Slye's goal: Mayo said the kicking competition between veteran Joey Slye and incumbent Chad Ryland is "still up in the air" -- an unintentional but well-played pun. Slye has been on an upward trajectory in recent days, which includes 51- and 45-yard field goals on Thursday night. Overall, Slye is 29-of-35 in training camp/preseason, while Ryland is 29-of-34.

Slye said his goal is not only to show he's worthy of one of the NFL's 32 kicking jobs. "I want to be in that category in top 5 of the league," he said. "I feel like at certain points, I've shown that. At other points I haven't."

7. Barmore boosts spirits: Defensive lineman Christian Barmore, who the team previously announced was diagnosed with blood clots, made his first appearance at practice Tuesday as a spectator. That boosted the spirits of players, with veteran defensive tackle Davon Godchaux saying they keep in touch on a D-line group chat but seeing him in person was uplifting. "I told him 'come around more. We miss you,'" Godchaux said.

8. They said it: "I'm year eight now, so I definitely have a lot of knowledge that I try to pass on to the young guys. I made a lot of mistakes in my career that I try to teach them [about] so they don't make the same mistakes I made. My special teams coach [Thomas McGaughey] used to say there are two types of knowledge -- borrowed and bought. Borrowed is when you learn from somebody else's mistake [and] when you buy, it is when you make the mistake and learn from it. So I try to give them a lot of knowledge to borrow from, but at the end of the day, experience is the best teacher." -- Patriots veteran safety Jabrill Peppers, on his role as a leader

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9. Coin toss captains: The Patriots haven't named their captains for the 2024 season, but Andrews and safety Kyle Dugger represented the team for the opening toss in the preseason opener, and it was just Andrews on Thursday night. One reminder for whenever official captains are announced -- Mayo previously said he generally favors a smaller number.

10. Did you know? The Patriots have totaled 10 sacks through the first two games of the preseason, albeit playing against backups. Eight different players registered at least one sack, with Ximines and Wise Jr. tied for the team lead with two apiece.