Patriots Daily
Patriots Daily: Drake Maye Impresses on ‘Hard Knocks’
HBO’s Hard Knocks series has never featured the New England Patriots. The docuseries takes a behind-the-scenes look at NFL teams. The first season featured the 2001 Baltimore Ravens in training camp. Beginning in 2021, they added a regular season edition of a second team to their preseason coverage. This year saw another first: Hard Knocks: Offseason with the New York Giants. It is the first offseason edition of the series.
Despite the Giants being the show’s focus, the Patriots played a prominent part in Episode 2, which aired last night. Clips from some of New York’s meetings with top prospects were shown. Of particular interest to New England fans was Drake Maye’s meeting. Giants head coach Brian Daboll grilled the young QB and appeared impressed.
— TG Videos (@TalkinGiantsVid) July 10, 2024
Drake Maye seemed confident and knowledgeable when analyzing plays with Daboll. New York held the No. 6 overall pick in the draft, though they were interested in moving up. No formal trade offer was made, or at least shown, but Giants GM Joe Schoen approached Patriots executive Eliot Wolf at the NFL Scouting Combine. He said if New England had “an inkling” about moving out of the No. 3, Wolf should keep Schoen in mind. New England opted to keep the pick and select Drake Maye third overall. New York stayed at six and took LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers.
Giants quarterback Daniel Jones signed a four-year extension after the 2022 season worth $160 million ($92 million guaranteed). It is hard to imagine Jones was thrilled seeing his team’s desire to replace him. Situations like this are likely why the Patriots have never participated in the series. Perhaps with Bill Belichick gone that could change in the future. For now, it was encouraging to get a glimpse at how well Drake Maye performed under pressure. New England hopes it’s a sign of good things to come.
Also in Tuesday’s Patriots Daily:
Patriots Fact of the Day
Drake Maye hopes to become the latest North Carolina Tar Heels player to join a long NFL career. Lawrence Taylor is the greatest UNC alum, but ranks only tenth in career games played (184). Four North Carolina players went on to play over 200 NFL games:
266 – Julius Peppers
236 – Ethan Albright
214 – Vonnie Holiday
211 – Jeff Saturday
Post of the Day
A look at Julius Peppers, still dominant in 2017 at age 37. The New England Patriots hope to get similar production from Drake Maye at any age. Video courtesy of John Ellis:
Former Panthers DE Julius Peppers has been announced as a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2024.
Here's tape of Peppers racking up 11 sacks at 37 years old (2017)
— John Ellis (@1PantherPlace) December 28, 2023
Patriots Football Now Coverage
Patriots 90-Man Roster Spotlight: Ja’Whaun Bentley – Coming off three straight 100-tackle seasons, what does the future hold for Bentley? The longtime team captain has been following in a long line of productive leaders in the middle of the Patriots defense. Two of them, Jerod Mayo and Dont’a Hightower, are now Bentley’s coaches.
Training Camp Competition: Patriots Running Backs – Rhamondre Stevenson and Antonio Gibson are locks for New England’s 53-man roster. Last year the team only kept two running backs on the original roster. Will they do so again, or do Kevin Harris, JaMycal Hasty, Deshaun Fenwick, and Terrell Jennings have a shot at making the squad out of training camp?
Barmore Snubbed in Top Defensive Tackles Poll – ESPN polled NFL executives, coaches, and scouts, The goal of the exercise was to identify the Top 10 players at each position in the NFL. However, New England Patriots defensive tackle Christian Barmore got left off their rankings of the NFL’s top DTs.
NFL Coverage
Steelers Now – The Pittsburgh Steelers added quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields to their roster this offseason. Running back Najee Harris appears pleased with the team’s new additions. “We did good,” stated Harris.
NFL.com – Former NFL player Adrian Wilson was recently released from his executive position with the Carolina Panthers. Wilson played his entire career with the Arizona Cardinals, for whom he would later work in the front office. A recent domestic violence-related arrest might shed some light on the reason for Carolina parting ways with Wilson.
CBS Sports – Which NFL teams will surprise and which will disappoint in 2024? The CBS Sports analysts break out their crystal balls and make their predictions. The New England Patriots did not make either list, but a pair of their AFC East rivals did.
Boston Bruins
Boston Hockey Now – Stay up to date on all of the Boston Bruins offseason news. They’ve added size to the roster. Former Bruins have found new homes in NHL free agency. What will happen with Jeremy Swayman? BHN has it all covered.
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