Inside Drake Maye's alarming 2026 slump one year after Patriots QB was MVP runner-up

New England's franchise quarterback has six interceptions and an NFL-worst 58.6 passer rating as opposing evaluators question his confidence and pocket poise

Oct 3, 2026 at 9:24 am ET • 5 min read

Through the Patriots' first 20 games last season -- a combination of the regular season and the three playoff games leading into the Super Bowl -- there wasn't a single game that Drake Maye finished with more than one interception. It was a breakthrough year that saw Maye finish as MVP runner-up and catapult himself onto the short list of the NFL's best young quarterbacks. 

Eight months later, the 24-year old is now coming off his third multi-interception performance in New England's last four games dating back to that Super Bowl loss to Seahawks.

It's part of a maddening run for Maye and the Patriots, who are off to a 1-2 start just a season after advancing to the Super Bowl. A large part of that has been regression from Maye that's surprised many around the NFL, including (based on grades from Pro Football Focus) the worst game of his career last week during the Patriots' 35-6 loss to the Jaguars. Maye finished with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

In all through the first three games of this season, the 2024 and 2025 Pro Bowl selection has six interceptions with just one touchdown, has yet to eclipse 208 passing yards in any individual game and has a QB rating (58.6) that ranks as the worst in the NFL among quarterbacks who've made more than two starts. 

It's led to some in NFL coaching and front office circles starting to wonder whether Maye's confidence is on a downward spiral. 

"When I when I studied him when he was coming out (of college), you saw the athletic ability and you saw the arm talent but, especially his last year at North Carolina, there were just a lot of the misses, and the missed throws were kind of alarming and some instinctual things too," a veteran NFL front office staffer told CBS Sports. "Then last year (in that second season in New England), he looked just a lot more comfortable and in command and like the game had slowed down for him. But now this year it almost looks like it's kind of sped up for him a little bit. And some of the misses, whether it be mis-read or missed throw, some of those things have just kind of popped up a little bit more and he's just not taking care of the ball all that well. 

"He just doesn't look comfortable and confident out there right now, especially when he's in the pocket. You still see how much talent he has. It's just very up and down play in and play out."

Maye Day?

Stat	Historical context
1 TD, 6 INT in first 3 starts following an All-Pro season	Third-worst TD-to-INT mark in the past 50 years
29 team offensive points in first 3 starts following an All-Pro season	Fewest since Babe Parilli in 1965
6+ INT in first 3 games after starting a Super Bowl	First QB since Rex Grossman in 2007
Giveaways in first 3 games	Most by a Patriots QB since Drew Bledsoe in 1995
8 total TD, 15 turnovers since the start of the 2025 playoffs	Compared with 35 TD, 11 turnovers in the 2025 regular season

Opposing team staffers also see teams having success generating pressuring on Maye and that impacting him.

In Super Bowl LX, the Seahawks had six sacks of Maye. Then in Week 1, Seattle again had success pressuring him, this time, as described by sources familiar with their gameplan, shifting to more zone blitzes instead of man-to-man pressures after the Patriots' offseason wide receiver additions. The Seahawks finished with three sacks and three interceptions. 

The Steelers then had three sacks in Week 2 and the Jaguars followed that last week with three sacks too.

"He's a good quarterback obviously but we were able to pressure him early and I think that showed up later (impacting his play)," an opposing team staffer said.

Other opposing coaches have been critical of New England's offensive system as well and point to that as a primary issue. It also doesn't help that Maye and the Patriots have been without the team's main offseason acquisition, star wide receiver A.J. Brown, since Week 1 due to ankle injury. Without Brown, as one opposing defensive coach put it, "they don't have receivers that are getting open."

Either way, Maye and New England now head into a matchup against Josh Allen and the 3-0 Bills having yet to produce more than 13 offensive points in any of these first three games, a big dropoff in offensive success for the Patriots after ranking second in the NFL with an average of 28.8 points per game.

"He's got to be better at learning what defenses look like and where his relief's going to be, but the offensive system doesn't do him any favors in my opinion," an opposing coach, who's faced New England this season, said. "They only run a certain number of plays and it's the same plays they've been running for a long time. And if your quarterback's not Tom Brady, who's going to get you in the perfect call, or someone like Josh Allen who's (elite at) second-chance plays, that offensive system after a while starts to get real stale."

Jayden Daniels working to get back ASAP

Last week, back when it was still unclear how much time Jayden Daniels would miss due to his injured left elbow, the Commanders star quarterback decided to get in front of his team and announce that he was going to bypass surgery and that he owed it to the team to get back as quickly as possible.

Within days, Daniels was already back doing light throwing. He then practiced this week on a limited basis. And while he won't play this week vs. the Colts in London, sources continue to classify him as truly being week-to-week.

Washington, which beat the Seahawks last week behind backup QB Marcus Mariota to move to 1-2, face the Giants next week and then play the 49ers.

A reinforcement coming for 49ers

For a second straight season already, the 49ers have had to deal with injuries to a number of key players. 

There's some good news on that front, though, with a high level of confidence that 2025 first-round draft pick Mykel Williams, who's been out since an ACL injury last November, will be able to return to action and play next week when the 49ers face the Seahawks, sources tell CBS Sports.

The defensive end returned to practice this week after beginning the season on the PUP list. Williams, whom San Francisco selected with the No. 11 pick in last year's draft, started nine games for the 49ers last year before suffering the torn ACL.