Tom Brady gives his opinion on if Patriots should start, or sit, Drake Maye

Now that the Patriots have named Jacoby Brissett their starting quarterback, the question quickly has become: When is it Drake Maye’s turn?

The rookie out of North Carolina was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, so it’s obvious that at some point, potentially this season, they’ll turn the reigns over to him.

But when will that be? Some would argue that he should be redshirted the entire season. Others think he should be starting this coming Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Patriots Hall of Famer, six-time Super Bowl champion, and FOX’s lead color commentator Tom Brady was asked his opinion on when Maye should start on Tuesday’s edition of The Herd with Colin Cowherd. Here’s what he had to say:

“I’ve gone on record, in my opinion, that I think it’s best that young quarterbacks, or rookie quarterbacks, to kind of watch a veteran do it,” said Brady.

“There’s so much that goes on,” he continued. “And quarterbacks need to process so much information so quickly, and I think if you can have someone — and I sat behind Drew Bledsoe my first year. What a great player he was, someone that I got to watch and learn from. Aaron Rodgers watched behind Brett Favre. Patrick Mahomes watched behind Alex Smith. So when you have a real pro in front of you, they can help with that learning curve even though that young quarterback isn’t necessarily going out there and losing confidence in what his abilities are.”

“Ultimately, those young players are going to get opportunities. The franchises need those young quarterbacks to come in and take a big step and lead that franchise on into the future. I just like to give them a little bit of time to acclimate themselves to the pro game, the pro schedule. It’s a big difference between college football and professional football.”

It was, however, under much different circumstances when Brady sat his entire rookie season under Drew Bledsoe. The 199th pick in the 2000 NFL Draft was lucky to even make the Patriots’ initial roster, but forced them to keep four quarterbacks. The rest, as we know now, is history. Brady was thrust into action Week 2 of his second year, went 11-3 to finish the regular season while throwing 18 touchdowns, and led New England to their first Super Bowl title.

Ironically, a potential landing spot for Maye could end up being Week 5, at home, against the Miami Dolphins — a game that is rumored to be Tom Brady’s first call of a Patriots game for FOX.

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