What Josh McDaniels is doing for Drake Maye that’s different from Alex Van Pelt

Drake Maye has much more noise in his helmet this 12 months than he did as a rookie in 2024.

Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has offered Maye much more suggestions via helmet communications than former offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt did final season, the quarterback informed Patriots preseason TV broadcaster Jason McCourty.

“[Van Pelt] didn’t speak in his helmet lots. This 12 months, Josh McDaniels talks to him as a lot as potential,” McCourty stated through the broadcast of the Patriots’ win over the Vikings on Saturday (via the Boston Herald‘s Andrew Callahan). “So him gaining Josh McDaniels’s belief is one thing that — when Josh says one thing, [Maye] can anticipate what’s going to occur. ‘Hey, the security’s trying like he’s going to come back. Discuss [to a teammate] about this.’

“These are the issues that, whilst Drake is studying the offense because it’s written on the paper, [it’s] additionally operationally getting used to at least one one other and constructing that relationship on the sphere on sport day.”

NFL guidelines enable coaches to speak with one participant on the sphere both previous to the snap or when the play clock has 15 seconds remaining. Contemplating that Maye was a rookie final season, it’s a little bit stunning to listen to that he wasn’t receiving as a lot pre-snap steerage as potential. Nevertheless, Van Pelt was additionally in a comparatively new position as properly, with final 12 months being the primary time he referred to as performs since 2009.

McDaniels, alternatively, is likely one of the extra seasoned playcallers within the league, having the ears of Tom Brady, Cam Newton, Derek Carr, Mac Jones, and others via helmet communications. Many lauded McDaniels’s work with Jones through the quarterback’s rookie season in 2021, believing he was a robust trainer for him.

Now, it’s Maye’s flip to lend his ears to McDaniels. He’s appreciated the steerage he’s gotten from the offensive coordinator to date, particularly pre-snap.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” he stated. “I believe having — earlier than the 15 seconds goes out — fixed reminders, or a little bit reminder right here or there, it goes a great distance for us as a result of we’re coping with quite a lot of stuff on the market. And even a reminder within the huddle to say to a receiver, ‘Hey, get your depth.’ Or to an offensive lineman, ‘Hey, be prepared for this.’ One thing like that goes a great distance, and he’s nice at sort of giving little tidbits.

“And from there, it’s simply working our communication of what I like listening to, and what [McDaniels] likes giving me earlier than the snap.”

As McDaniels continues to work with Maye on diagnosing coverages and different pre-snap components within the sport, the offensive coordinator shared that he’s been most impressed by the quarterback’s improvement in situational moments in coaching camp.

“I used to be actually excited by the best way he dealt with these practices this week,” McDaniels informed the Patriots’ preseason tv broadcast on Saturday, referencing the joint practices the group had with the Vikings. “Apply, by nature, is all the time tough since you put your self in a situation the place you run the identical factor time and again, and that’s not likely how a soccer sport goes. So, there have been quite a lot of long-yardage conditions that he needed to deal with. Numerous two-minute drills. Numerous tough low-red zone conditions that he was part of.

“We noticed quite a lot of development from him. Did an incredible job of caring for the soccer.”

Maye, who solely performed two drives in Saturday’s sport, put up spectacular numbers through the two joint practices, according to most accounts. However, in fact, what maye does in apply in the end doesn’t matter if it doesn’t translate into constructive outcomes on sport days.

As that query stays to be answered, there may be one factor that’s clear concerning the dynamic between Maye and McDaniels. The duo has fashioned a detailed bond, even residing close to one another, as McDaniels has proven Maye tape from his earlier Patriots stints.

“He will get on me for my landscaping,” Maye stated with amusing about McDaniels on The Athletic‘s “Scoop City” podcast. “However I’m nervous about soccer proper now.

“He sees [the game] so properly,” Maye added of McDaniels. “It’s cool to observe all of the previous tape again of their video games again within the day. He is aware of the down and distance, what was occurring, who scored a landing, and what the safety was. We have now performs in apply now and he pulls again previous clips of that very same play with one thing and sort of pertains to that.”