The Patriots open the 2024 preseason on Thursday night at home against the Panthers. And when the game kicks off at 7 p.m. inside Gillette Stadium, it will (eventually) lead to the preseason debut of rookie quarterback Drake Maye.
Selected third overall by the Patriots in the draft, Maye is understandably accompanied by a degree of curiosity and expectation. The early reports from training camp suggest that he is, unsurprisingly, a first-year player grappling with the new reality of playing professional football.
Patience, in other words, is required in analyzing Maye (as it is with any rookie). Of course, for fans of a team that suffered its worst season in decades a year ago, patience might not be a leading quality.
Yet even the greatest of players often have modest beginnings in the NFL preseason. For confirmation of this fact, here’s a rundown of previous Patriots rookie quarterbacks, and how their respective debuts went:
Jim Plunkett, 1971: While Maye carries the burden of being a top pick (third overall) in the draft, Jim Plunkett walked an even more pressure-packed road in his time.
Plunkett was drafted first overall by the Patriots in 1971. Having beat the likes of Joe Theismann and Archie Manning to win the Heisman Trophy, expectations were sky-high.
Making his preseason debut in a 17-10 loss to the Vikings, Plunkett was somewhat strangely held out until six minutes remained in the fourth quarter.
“Our plan was to keep Plunkett out until the right moment,” Patriots head coach John Mazur insisted after the game. “I feel as though we put him in at a perfect time.”
Plunkett finished his night having completed 2 of 5 passes for 16 yards, including a nine-yard completion on his first passing attempt.
“Though he played briefly,” wrote Boston Globe reporter Will McDonough, “Plunkett showed poise and confidence under pressure.”
Steve Grogan, 1975: Unlike both Plunkett and Maye, Steve Grogan did not arrive in New England as a hyped first-round pick. Selected in the fifth round in 1975, he was initially tasked with being a backup behind Plunkett.
But following his first preseason game — a 28-14 loss to the Giants — early signs seemed promising. Grogan played the entire second quarter and finished six of nine with 48 yards passing.
“He threw the ball well,” New England head coach Chuck Fairbanks said of Grogan. “But what I liked was the way he operated in the last two minutes of the first half when we were driving for a score. It’s not bad work for a young man only two weeks in camp.”
Tony Eason, 1983: Amid a (now famous) quarterback class in the first round of the 1983 draft, New England picked Tony Eason 15th overall.
The 6-foot-4-inch quarterback from the University of Illinois took the field in a 27-16 loss to the Steelers. At first, his performance was defined by a mistake, as he misread the Pittsburgh defense.
Thinking he spotted a Steelers blitz, Eason fired a slant quickly over the middle to fellow rookie Darryal Wilson. Yet when it was eventually revealed to be a zone defense, Wilson was clobbered trying to make a catch over the middle.
“We thought it was a blitz, but they didn’t blitz,” Wilson told reporters. “So I ended up crossing the middle and ran into a little company.”
It was a nice way of saying that he was annihilated by Steelers Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert. But after that early hiccup, Eason improved.
He completed his debut 10-of-17 for 92 yards and one interception. He eventually led a 67-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter to give the Patriots a 16-14 lead.
Drew Bledsoe, 1993: Another Patriots quarterback selected with the first overall pick was none other than Drew Bledsoe. Picked by newly-installed head coach Bill Parcells (who kept the league in suspense as he deliberated his quarterback decision), Bledsoe was almost instantly seen as a hopeful franchise savior.
As a result, the corresponding attention on him in preseason was immense.
His first game came in a 13-7 loss to the Chargers. For the rookie quarterback, it was a microcosm of his early New England career: An obvious level of natural talent that took time to be properly harnessed within a team being rebuilt around him.
Parcells offered a characteristically contemptuous quote about his rookie class.
“They’ve got to stop worrying how their uniforms look on them and start playing the game,” he thundered in the postgame.
In all, it was an up-and-down night for Bledsoe that gave a sufficient glimpse at his lofty potential. He went 9-of-21 for 78 yards, throwing a six-yard fourth quarter touchdown pass to another rookie: Troy Brown.
Tom Brady, 2000: The most famous of Patriots began in utterly forgettable circumstances as an anonymous sixth-round pick in 2000. Much has been made of the fact that the future seven-time Super Bowl winner’s preseason coincidentally started at the 2000 Hall of Fame game with his childhood idol Joe Montana watching from the sidelines.
Yet Brady was thoroughly overshadowed that night by fellow New England backup quarterback Michael Bishop, who played most of the game in the 20-0 win over the 49ers. Bishop completed 9-of-13 passes for 101 yards (adding 50 rushing yards, including a touchdown scramble).
When Brady did get into the game, it was with under 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Working within the limited confines of the final quarter of a preseason game, Brady did what he could. He closed out his debut 3-of-4 for 28 yards in what Boston Globe reporter Nick Cafardo labelled “a strong mop-up performance.”
“He’s a rookie from @UMichFootball. He was picked in the sixth round.”
19 preseasons ago, @TomBrady made his debut. (7/31/2000) pic.twitter.com/9rMQzZeUIu
— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) August 8, 2019
Mac Jones, 2021: The most recent notable Patriots quarterback debut came with Mac Jones after Bill Belichick opted to draft him 15th overall in 2021.
Jones competed against veteran Cam Newton for the starting role in his rookie training camp, and fared comparatively well in his first preseason test.
After Newton was inconsistent over the first two drives against Washington in the Aug. 2021 matchup — the Patriots’ first home game in front of fans in over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic — Jones’s eventual entrance was warmly received by fans.
He proceeded to go 13-of-19 for 87 yards, including a sequence of 11 straight completions at one point.
“Transferring what he’s consistently showed the last week-plus of camp practices, Jones was firmly in command,” said Globe Patriots reporter Jim McBride.
The Patriots won the game, 22-13, and Jones went on to win the QB competition against Newton, becoming a rookie starter.
