The Blueprint: How Tom Brady's Example Gives Drake Maye ‘Answers to the Test’

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Josh McDaniels flipped on some old Patriots game film as a way of introducing himself and his offensive system to Drake Maye. After his first 12 NFL starts during a promising yet inconsistent rookie season, Maye sat back and watched plays that every football fan has seen on NFL Films and NFL Network replays and social media.

It was film of Tom Brady, the greatest of all time.

The expectation was that Maye, in his second year under center, would use the same terminology and run many of the same plays. The expectation was not that Maye would turn into Brady. Or that Maye would win three MVPs. Or seven Super Bowls. Or any of that. No, the expectation was that Maye would embrace the challenges — and, in turn, the advantages — that McDaniels’ offense presents.

Under head coach Mike Vrabel, McDaniels is in his third stint as New England's offensive coordinator and was with Brady for all six of his Super Bowl titles as a Patriot. Following in Brady’s footsteps is no doubt daunting. But there’s one convenient element about those footsteps — they could serve as a blueprint to greatness.

"Josh was with them for 20 years, so why would you not want to show how this offense can be executed at the highest level," veteran Patriots tight end Hunter Henry told me last week in the locker room. "So that’s what we expect. Obviously, not [Drake] to be [Brady] … they’re very different players, but, yeah, I think you want to elevate and show them the best."

Josh McDaniels and Drake Maye started implementing the new offense, which is the Patriots' old offense, last spring. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

McDaniels' system is notoriously difficult to learn at the outset. But once the quarterback gets it, it sets him up for a holistic understanding of the offense. That’s what justifies all the hard work upfront.

"It's kind of like learning the alphabet," McDaniels told me. "It's not going to change next spring. And it's not going to change next training camp."

As for using Brady’s film, McDaniels wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t just about watching the quarterback alone. The teach tape is an 11-man look at the offense.

"It's not just that we put on film of Tom," McDaniels told me. "We're putting up film of things we're trying to learn how to do better. And some of that has to do with the quarterback, and some of it has to do with other things. … It is more system-based, as opposed to, ‘Hey, mimic this person.'"

But — you know you’re curious. What did Maye see from his early impressions of Brady?

"The one thing with Tom, he always knew where to go with the football," Maye said on "Up & Adams" during training camp. "Tom was great with knowing where to go with the football, beating blitzers, knowing where to go before the snap. I think that’s the best thing I saw."

Brady had a succinct way of categorizing that style of play.

"I have the answers to the test now," he said in 2017.

That’s the upside of the offense that McDaniels teaches. Defenses will present problems; quarterbacks have to be a part of the solution.

And to be clear, quarterback Matt Cassel, Brady’s former backup, told me he agreed wholly with McDaniels showing Brady’s film to Maye.

"It did make you feel a little shy about your abilities to go out there and execute at that level," Cassel said. "But you start to understand, ‘Man, OK, I go into every game with an advantage.' And I'm sure that's how Drake feels. Just because of how Josh sets up plays."

Matt Cassel, left, backed up Tom Brady from 2005-07 and then took over as the Patriots' starter in 2008 after Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 1. (Photo by Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

When Maye sat down to study the offense, Brady’s level of execution must have seemed so far off — perhaps even unattainable. But then, of course, we’ve seen Maye surge into consideration for the MVP this season. We’ve seen him win in the playoffs, doing what his wild-card opponent — Chargers QB Justin Herbert, now 0-3 in the postseason — could not. We’ve seen Maye help New England flip its 4-13 record in 2024 to 14-3 in 2025.

In just his second season, Maye appears to have the answers to the test. Just ask another quarterback who is fluent in McDaniels’ system.

"When I watch Drake play, it just looks to me like he's in a flow state," Brian Hoyer, who played 15 years in the NFL, including eight for the Patriots, told me. "He's not thinking — he's just playing. And that's where you want to get to in that system. Because when you have all those tools in your tool belt, and you have the answers to the test, you don't want to be out there having to think about it. You want to be reacting to what you see. It’s been very seldom where I watch a play [by Maye] and think, ‘That wasn’t right.’"

This is how Maye has kept defenses from finding a blueprint to beating him. He is the second-best QB in the NFL in EPA/play when he has a clean pocket. And he's second-best in the NFL in EPA/play when he's pressured. You can't let him sit back and pick you apart, but you won't have success getting after him, either. There seems to be no clear weakness in his game. When an opponent shows something that bugs him, he and McDaniels chat on the sideline and prepare a counterpunch. If they can’t figure it out in-game, the Patriots’ offensive staff will make sure Maye has an answer ready by the following week.

Brian Hoyer backed up Brady for eight seasons in New England, running Josh McDaniels' offense. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

The system helps Maye follow a set of rules to make decisions pre-snap that will set up the offense for success after the snap. The quarterback looks for tells at the line of scrimmage — a linebacker's leverage or the defense's response to motion — that will serve as an indicator if the Patriots are in the right play. If they're not, Maye can change protections, change the direction of the run or change the play entirely. 

It's about getting into the right play. And it's about getting out of the wrong play.

It can’t be overstated how uniquely challenging McDaniels’ system is. Former Patriots receiver Malcolm Mitchell compared studying the playbook to calculus. Hoyer said he didn’t have a full command of the system until his third season. Cassel said that, even when he took over for Brady in 2008 after the starter’s ACL injury, he played in a "dumbed down" version of the offense — just to make sure he was comfortable at first. 

The first year in McDaniels’ system is rigorous. 

And it’s easy to forget that’s where Maye is — in Year 1 in the system.

"I remember calling the play early on in [my rookie season], like some of our first OTAs," Cassel told me. "I called this play, and at least I was able to regurgitate what [McDaniels] told me in my helmet. But I remember getting to the last scrimmage, having no idea what I just called in the huddle, and just going, ‘What in the hell am I going to do now?’ 

"But I don't want to look like a fool, so I'll just snap the ball, look for Troy Brown over the middle, hopefully, and see what happens."

Thankfully for Cassel, veteran Patriots receiver Brown was often there. Brady had Brown, then Wes Welker, then Julian Edelman. (And Deion Branch and Rob Gronkowski and Randy Moss and so many others.)

For Maye, the supporting cast is that of a rebuilding roster, which is what the Patriots initially looked like, prior to Maye and Vrabel’s meteoric rise. Maye has helped veteran Stefon Diggs look solid despite his ACL recovery — and former sixth-round pick Kayshon Boutte looks like an elite downfield threat. Even Efton Chism III, an undrafted rookie receiver out of Eastern Washington, has made impactful catches over the past three weeks. 

Efton Chism III has had the first four catches of his NFL career in the past three weeks, including this first-down reception against the Chargers in the wild-card game.  (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

That’s what has helped Maye’s MVP candidacy — the way he has elevated this offense in ways no one could’ve expected.

Holding nothing back was key to Maye’s development.

"People pontificate about what's too much to teach the quarterback? What's not enough?" McDaniels said. "I'm such a big believer in training the quarterbacks and trying to teach the whole person, and not just saying, ‘Let's take everything off their plate so they can, quote-unquote, play fast.’ 

"I’m not saying people don’t have success doing it another way. They obviously do. … I would rather go through the growing pains and the labor pain of making a mistake here and there to learn how to do it and how to use those things to your benefit, especially for a young player."

McDaniels always seems to be zooming in and out to get the clearest picture of his offense’s development and progress. He is constantly seeking new ideas and new ways to highlight what his players do well. Otherwise? "You’re getting stale," he said.

Regression might’ve once seemed inevitable for Maye. How could he possibly finish the season with the highest completion percentage and the highest yards per attempt? Surely, something had to give. But it didn’t. At season’s end, he remained first in the NFL in both categories.

"There's a lot of growth there," Vrabel said when asked about Maye learning from McDaniels. "He learned from some of those instances where maybe he could have gone to something else, and I think he's learned from that. So, that's been really good to see, and that's credit to Josh, obviously, and [quarterbacks coach] Ashton [Grant]."

In the wild-card game against the Chargers, Maye started slowly, with an interception in the first half and two fumbles in the second half (one lost). Both fumbles were a product of the young QB trying to do too much, unwilling to take a sack when that was what was best for the team. And that’s because L.A.’s defense presented a unique challenge for Maye — with a system designed to force him to play patiently and, for the most part, check the ball down. 

He doesn’t yet have all the answers. He’s only 23, after all.

But in that second half, Maye took what the defense gave him to the tune of 173 passing yards and a touchdown with a 142 passer rating. All that patience paid off, because finally, Maye spotted the tiniest sliver of separation by Henry for a 28-yard touchdown — the only one of the entire game by either team.

Maye might be the youngest quarterback in the playoffs. He might be in his second season, and he might not have yet completed his first year in McDaniels’ system. And still …

"He has full control," Patriots center Ben Brown told me last week in the locker room. "I think he just fully understands the ins and outs of the system, you know. And so I think having someone like that at quarterback is super advantageous."

It’s the most valuable thing in football, which is why it’s down to Maye and Rams veteran QB Matthew Stafford for the MVP award. Maye is doing it in ways that are hard to describe, particularly when trying to compare him to another NFL QB. He’s mobile. He’s accurate at every level. And he’s smart before, during and after the snap. 

Though only in his second season, and his first under OC Josh McDaniels, Maye has "full control" of the Patriots' offense. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Ironically, Maye is learning the blueprint from Brady's example, but he looks nothing like Brady.

"The quarterbacks operate [the system] at a very high level — albeit it’s a little bit different for each of them," Hoyer said. "Tom didn’t throw the ball down the field the way Drake does. Tom was more death by 1,000 paper cuts and efficient."

McDaniels agreed wholeheartedly, immediately pointing to the option play that Maye ran in the win over the Chargers.

"We never did that with Tom. Why? Because Drake can do it," McDaniels told me. "Drake's version of this is completely his own, and we're still, I would say, in the infancy stages of that. We're still in our first year."

Maye is his own guy. His own quarterback. With a playing style unlike anyone else in the NFL.

"You can’t compare him to anyone," Hoyer said. "That’s the greatest compliment you can give."

Maye is beyond comparison. And it all started not just with McDaniels showing Brady’s film. But with McDaniels helping Maye believe that he could someday do many of the things Brady once did — but also do things totally different than Brady. 

That belief is what has the Patriots charging through the playoffs.

Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna. 

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