Julian Edelman spoke about what he wants to see from Drake Maye next season.
During an interview with Sophie Weller of Patriots Wire, New England Patriots legend Julian Edelman spoke about what he wants to see from QB Drake Maye next season.
Edelman played with the best QB of all time, Tom Brady, so he knows what elite quarterbacking takes.
"Year three, I want to see how he deals with the offensive line when they are not performing at their best," Edelman said. "There's going to be times where you can't get them blocked, but we still got to produce. And I think that's going to be the natural progression in his progession.
"Another year in the same system. This will be Year Two with Josh McDaniels. I think they're naturally going to get better together the longer they play together. Seeing him being able to handle those types of situations. We saw him explosive down the field. We saw him dink and dunk with the completion percentage. That was elite. We need to see him when (expletive) hits the fan. That's what I want to see him, when it's gritty time. Like we saw all Super Bowl. It was tough to block those guys, but we still got to find a way."
The Patriots had a magical 2025 season. They won the AFC in Year 1 of the Mike Vrabel era and Year 2 of the Maye era.
Despite losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl, New England has a bright future with Maye leading the way. After all, Maye was second in MVP voting last season and he's already one of the top players in the league while being on his rookie contract.
Maye finished the 2025 regular season with 4,394 passing yards and 31 passing touchdowns while completing 72.0% of his passes.
A UNC product, Maye finished the Super Bowl with 295 passing yards, two passing touchdowns and two interceptions. It's fair to wonder how he would have played against the Seahawks had he not gotten hurt against the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.
Let's see if the Patriots can get back to the Super Bowl next season and win it all in Year 2 of the Vrabel era and Year 3 of the Maye era.
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