A year after finishing as NFL MVP runner-up and leading New England to a stunning Super Bowl appearance, Drake Maye has become the league's biggest turnover machine over three weeks. Sunday's 35-6 blowout loss to Jacksonville was the nadir: 14-of-25 passing for 199 yards, zero touchdowns, two interceptions, and a fumble that saw him simply lose his grip on the ball.
Maye was even pulled in the fourth quarter for backup Tommy DeVito, an unthinkable development for a quarterback the Patriots handed a franchise-caliber future to less than a year ago. With New England sitting at 1-2 and Maye already up to seven turnovers against a single touchdown, the leash question is no longer hypothetical.
The Numbers Don't Lie
Maye's collapse is statistical, not just visual. He threw 31 touchdowns against eight interceptions across all of last season on his way to All-Pro-level buzz. Through three games in 2026, he has one touchdown and six interceptions, a passer rating that's cratered from 113.5 to 58.6, and a completion percentage that's dropped nearly nine points to 63.8%.
Drake Maye has had a suboptimal first three weeks pic.twitter.com/L4fslTaENV
— PFF (@PFF) September 27, 2026
He's been sacked nine times already, on pace to blow past last year's total of 47. Most alarming is the turnover math: seven giveaways in three games compares to just 11 over the entire 17-game 2025 regular season.
Why Vrabel Should Still Resist the Trigger
Despite the ugliness, benching Maye outright right now would be an overreaction. He's 24 years old, just three seasons into his career, and was the driving force behind a Super Bowl run that nobody projected for New England entering last year. Turning to Tommy DeVito as a long-term answer isn't a real plan for a franchise that has invested this much draft and developmental capital into Maye.
Maye himself has been refreshingly candid, admitting after the Jaguars loss that “what we're doing out there offensively is unacceptable” and that he needs to “look at himself in the mirror.” That kind of self-awareness, paired with a track record of elite play as recently as last regular season, suggests this is a confidence and mechanics issue more than a talent one. Young quarterbacks who follow deep playoff runs sometimes hit a sophomore-type wall, and Maye's five-game slump technically traces back to last postseason, not just this year.
Where the Rope Actually Runs Out
Benching Maye mid-season isn't the answer. New England has too much invested in him, and yanking a former MVP runner-up after one rough stretch risks doing more psychological damage than good. The smarter move is to ride out 2026 with Maye as the starter, using DeVito only in true emergency situations, while using this stretch as film-room ammunition to push him toward cleaner decision-making.
The real evaluation window should open in the offseason. If the turnovers persist through December, Vrabel and the front office can explore bringing in a veteran bridge option or a legitimate draft challenger to create competition, less as a threat and more as a wake-up call that the job isn't unconditionally his.