After another disastrous performance Sunday by third-year New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, who committed three more turnovers to bring his total to seven on the season already, questions quickly emerged about whether the 24-year-old’s throwing shoulder is still injured.
Maye injured the shoulder during the playoffs, but the day after the Patriots suffered a 35-6 blowout by the Jacksonville Jaguars, coach Mike Vrabel attempted to quell any lingering concerns. But his answer probably didn’t accomplish that goal.
Asked if he was “aware” of any persistent shoulder injury to Maye, Vrabel denied that he was, and added, “I don’t anticipate that being any issue going forward,” as quoted by reporter Alex Barth of 98.5 The Sports Hub radio.
But Vrabel never said definitively that Maye’s shoulder is not injured, and in a WEEI radio interview later on Monday, Maye dodged three straight chances to say his shoulder feels identical to before last season’s injury.
Asked directly whether his right shoulder and throwing arm feel physically identical to before the injury, with no lingering loss of strength, velocity or range of motion, Maye pivoted toward talk of execution rather than physiology.
“I don’t think that has anything to do with executing and playing better football,” he said, as quoted by Boston Herald reporter Doug Kyed.
Pressed again on whether anything lingers, Maye promised only that he plays “100%” whenever he’s in uniform. Asked a third time if he manages something daily, he described general postgame soreness without ruling anything out.
Drake Maye’s Shoulder History Resurfaces
New England’s quarterback landed hard on his right shoulder scrambling against the Broncos in January’s AFC Championship Game, and the injury shadowed him through Super Bowl LX, where he received a pain-relieving injection just to take the field, according to an Associated Press report. He never underwent surgery, and no specific structural diagnosis ever became public, just a run of “limited” injury-report tags into February.
The shoulder issue actually predated the Denver hit entirely, a detail that undercuts the idea nothing was wrong before that game, according to NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry. Vrabel spent that stretch minimizing his concern, repeatedly noting nobody in the league feels fully healthy by January.
Sunday night, after New England’s 35-6 drubbing in Jacksonville, a reporter asked Maye if his shoulder felt the same as before the injury.
“I wouldn’t say there’s a problem with my shoulder,” he said, adding he still thinks back to the Denver hit, according to 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Drake Maye’s Statistical Collapse Fuels Fears
Maye has thrown one touchdown against six interceptions through three games this season, completing 63.8% of his passes for 585 yards. A year ago, over the same three-week stretch, he threw five touchdowns against two interceptions for 785 yards, before a 31-touchdown, eight-interception season that ended in the Super Bowl.
Sports Illustrated‘s Andy Nesbitt captured the shift bluntly.
“Last year, Maye couldn’t do anything wrong. This year, he can’t do anything right,” he wrote Monday. Nesbitt added that the Patriots “should be very concerned” about their 24-year-old quarterback.
Vrabel hasn’t listed Maye on an injury report this season, and no specific treatment has been scheduled or discussed publicly. Maye keeps steering questions toward decision-making rather than his arm. But he still hasn’t given reporters the one clean answer that would end the speculation.
New England resumes full practice Wednesday, three days before traveling to face Buffalo’s 3-0 Bills.
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