Mike Vrabel issues concerning injury update on Drake Maye ahead of Super Bowl LX

The Patriots are headed to Super Bowl LX.

However the health of their franchise cornerstone, Drake Maye, has become the cloud hanging over an otherwise celebratory week in New England.

On Monday morning, head coach Mike Vrabel joined The Greg Hill Show on WEEI, and while fans were looking for reassurance regarding Maye’s throwing shoulder, they instead received a heavy dose of Belichickian ambiguity.

The concern stems from a physical AFC Championship game against the Denver Broncos.

In the third quarter, Maye took a violent hit from safety Talanoa Hufanga at the end of a 13-yard scramble, landing awkwardly on his right side.

While Maye finished the game, cameras caught him repeatedly rotating his arm and adjusting his pads, sparking immediate speculation about an AC joint sprain.

When pressed on the status of his star quarterback and whether the shoulder was a legitimate concern, Vrabel took a wide-angle lens rather than offering specifics.

“There’s not a player on our team that’s 100 percent healthy,” Vrabel told the show.

The non-answer did little to quiet the nerves of a region waiting to see if their second-year sensation would be at full strength to face the Seattle Seahawks in Santa Clara.

When Hill pushed further on when the public might get a definitive answer on Maye’s medical status, Vrabel remained stoic.

“I would imagine we’ll go through the injury report and whenever we have to turn that in, we’ll turn it in,” Vrabel said. “But nobody is 100 percent. This’ll be our 21st game.”

The concerning nature of the update lies in what Vrabel didn’t say.

Getty

Getty

He declined multiple opportunities to describe the injury as “minor” or “precautionary,” instead leaning into the physical toll of a season that has now stretched into late January and will end in February.

For his part, Maye tried to downplay the situation in the post-game locker room on Sunday, acknowledging the physical nature of the AFC title game.

“Just some bumps and bruises,” Maye said following the win. “We’ve got two weeks to get healthy. I’ll be ready to go.”

While Maye’s optimism is a good sign for Patriots fans, Vrabel’s refusal to provide a clean bill of health ensures that his shoulder will be the primary storyline as the team begins its preparations for the Super Bowl.

For now, the Patriots are sticking to the script: everyone is hurt, the report comes out when it’s due, and the status of the NFL’s most exciting young quarterback remains “to be determined.”

The stakes for Maye’s health couldn’t be higher, as the second-year quarterback is currently one of the finalists for NFL MVP after a regular season that redefined New England’s offensive identity.

Finishing the year with 4,394 passing yards and 31 touchdowns, Maye led the Patriots to a 14-3 record—the greatest single-season turnaround in franchise history.

However, the postseason has been a different story; while Maye has willed the team to three straight wins against top-five defenses, he has also been battered in the process, enduring 15 sacks and fumbling six times over that stretch.

The looming matchup in Santa Clara presents a full circle moment for the franchise. Super Bowl LX serves as a historic rematch of Super Bowl XLIX, where the Patriots famously defeated the Seahawks behind Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception.

While the faces have changed, Vrabel replacing Belichick and Maye succeeding the era of Brady, the defensive identity of both teams remains.

Seattle, led by Mike Macdonald, finished the season with the league’s top-ranked scoring defense, meaning a less-than-100-percent Maye will be walking into a defensive buzzsaw designed to exploit any physical limitation he might be carrying.

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