Drake Maye doesn’t take bait after drama with Cam Newton, Smith

Drake Maye and the Patriots have already got their fingers full in relation to weathering a string of major injuries and ending sturdy earlier than a long-awaited bye week after subsequent Monday’s primetime matchup in opposition to the Giants.

However, the second-year QB discovered himself embroiled in a media feud final week after his scheduled call-in interview with WEEI final week. 

Final Monday, Maye was requested about former Panthers and Patriots QB Cam Newton’s feedback on ESPN’s “First Take”, with the previous NFL MVP labeling New England as “fool’s gold” when it got here to the workforce’s label as a viable contender in a wide-open AFC. 

“I don’t even know what present he’s on,” Maye said of Newton. “I believe they receives a commission to make remarks and make sure feedback.”

“I’m simply nervous about what folks in our group assume, and fear about (what) we predict and what my teammates assume. Individuals are going to have completely different opinions. I’m simply going on the market on Sunday and worrying about ourselves.”

Maye’s seemingly offhand remark about not figuring out which present Newton was on drew derision from Newton’s fellow “First Take’ pundit, Stephen A. Smith. 

“He’s additionally a liar. To start with, let me let you know. To not brag. Hear,” Smith mentioned of Maye on Thursday. “Pardon the Interruption is the No. 1 present on ESPN spanning twenty-plus [years]. First Take is the No. 1 morning present 13 years and counting, April will likely be 14 years.”

“Don’t inform me you’re an athlete and also you don’t know that,” Smith continued. “Don’t inform me that you simply’re an athlete and also you don’t know that Cam Newton is on this present. You’re mendacity.”

Speaking on “WEEI Afternoons” on Monday, Maye opted to take the excessive street when requested about Smith’s harsh feedback final week. 

“I believe, like I mentioned, I’m simply nervous about what folks in our constructing, in our group — those that I maintain rather a lot private relationships with, on their opinions and worth that. So, all that outdoors stuff, it’s what it’s,” Maye mentioned of Smith’s feedback. “Simply bought to watch out what I say. Didn’t attempt to imply it disrespectfully.”

Whereas Maye opted to brush apart Smith’s feedback, his coach, Mike Vrabel, didn’t precisely evade an analogous query throughout his interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Present” earlier Monday morning. 

“Is it? I discover that arduous to consider,” Vrabel joked when he was reminded of Smith’s comments about “First Take” being the top-rated show of its kind. “It’s not the SportsCenter that I grew up with.”

Talking on his Sirius XM Present on Friday, Smith walked again a few of his feedback about Maye — saying that he was solely “being facetious.” 

“I used to be being facetious as a result of it wasn’t that huge of a deal,” Smith said. “In different phrases, Cam Newton is on nationwide tv. And your response was, ‘I don’t even know the place he works.’ I simply didn’t consider that. That’s all.

“I wasn’t calling him a liar about anything. Simply that he didn’t know the place Cam works. However you’re proper, I don’t know Drake Maye, I’ve by no means spoken to him. Once more, I used to be being facetious. I wasn’t being critical about that time.”

 

Conor Ryan is a workers author protecting the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Crimson Sox for Boston.com, a job he has held since 2023.