New England Patriots fans are eager to see No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye take over the starting quarterback reigns as soon as possible. But it seems like new head coach Jerod Mayo is instead taking a bit of a slower approach with Maye early on in his career, aided by a very unique development method that very few NFL teams have used.
Thus far throughout the Patriots OTAs, the likes of Jacoby Brissett and Bailey Zappe have been receiving the majority of on-field reps during individual drills over Maye. Most teams often take a different approach with their rookie quarterbacks, getting them as many on-field reps as possible to help them get up to speed at the NFL level.
This is a part of Mayo’s plan for Maye, which interestingly includes more “mental reps” with the use of virtual reality instead of more on-field reps for their standout rookie quarterback.
Mayo spoke about this on Wednesday with NESN, preaching about the use of virtual reality as an aid for quarterback development.
“It’s a case-by-case basis, but I would also say, it’s not only what is done out here on the football field,” Mayo said on Wednesday via NESN. “I know that when we talk about meetings, we usually talk about sitting at a desk and taking notes, but we have spaces inside the building where you can actually go out there and get real-life looks at the defenses and go through the calls with coaches, so he’ll get his reps.”
“I think the virtual stuff is great and that’s another way that you can steal some of those reps without being on the football field. We’re absolutely interested in that type of technology, we have rooms in the building that have some of that technology, but obviously, technology changes every single day. We’re looking for the best thing.”
Only time will tell whether this rare method will ultimately translate in a positive or negative way once Maye does get his first chance in NFL game action. But if it does work out, we could very well see other NFL teams copying this with their young quarterbacks.
[NESN]
