For Drake Maye, the pressure cooker of New England might just be a close second. The Patriots’ prized rookie, selected third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, finds himself at the center of a quarterback conundrum that’s got Foxborough buzzing louder than a swarm of angry hornets.

Nick Wright, never one to shy away from a hot take, dropped a bombshell on “First Things First” today, He’s backing an unlikely ally in his push for Maye to start Week 1: none other than Bill Belichick. Wright’s argument leans heavily on Belichick’s time-tested philosophy of developing young talent, particularly quarterbacks.

“I don’t agree with Jerod Mayo that when you draft a quarterback in the top five, the calculus is purely, ‘Is he better than our incumbent veteran backup by Week One?'” Wright argued. He then drew a parallel to another rookie situation: “I do not think Sam Darnold is a good NFL starting quarterback, and I really liked the very limited what I saw from JJ McCarthy in Week One of the preseason. I would have bet Darnold would be better than JJ on September 8th, but I still would have said start JJ.”

“The NFL has changed a lot,” Wright pointed out. “You don’t have as long of training camp, you don’t have two-a-days, you don’t have as many padded practices. The best time a young player has to improve is in the games.” This echoes Belichick’s long-standing belief that game experience is crucial for quarterback development.

Belichick’s approach is clear as he said on The Pat McAfee Show this week, “I think we’re going to have to judge the rookies when they get to the regular season,” said Belichick. “Preseason is a good time to gain experience and get a little bit of game exposure. Especially at the quarterback position, the defenses are very basic. There isn’t a lot of scheme.” Wright is essentially advocating for the Patriots to apply this Belichick wisdom to Maye’s situation.

Belichick’s approach towards coaches was along similar lines “We’ll develop from within, teach coaches our system, and develop them from within so we didn’t have to change philosophies when coaches changed.” Bill Belichick said back in 2016 to ESPN about his approach of developing coaches. But new head coach Jerod Mayo seems to be reading from a different playbook.

In the preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers, Maye saw a measly seven snaps. Seven! You could blink and miss his entire performance. Maye finished 2-of-3 for 19 yards, leaving fans and pundits alike scratching their heads. Mayo defended his approach as per ESPN: “Each of these quarterbacks has an individual development plan that I’ve gone over with AVP and the rest of his staff, and we’re sticking to that plan until it’s time to change.”

It’s a stark contrast to Belichick’s method, which saw Mac Jones rack up 33 snaps in his 2021 preseason debut. Wright isn’t buying the kid gloves approach, channeling Belichick’s philosophy of throwing promising rookies into the fire. “What I wanted to see was flashes, and I saw them,” he said. “Like, you saw why some people are so enamored with this kid’s talent.”

It’s hard to argue with the numbers. Maye racked up 3,608 passing yards and 24 touchdowns in his final college season. Compare that to Bailey Zappe’s 1,272 yards and 6 TDs in 2023, and you can see why Wright, echoing Belichick’s approach, is chomping at the bit to see more of the rookie.

Why starting Drake Maye could revitalize the Patriots’ legacy?

Remember when Tom Brady was just a scrawny sixth-round pick? Belichick didn’t hesitate to throw him into the fire when Drew Bledsoe went down. Now, Wright’s suggesting it’s time to dust off that old playbook for Maye.

He’s not alone in this thinking. Rob Gronkowski, never one to mince words, weighed in on the quarterback situation. “I think Drake Maye did a job well done for the six plays that he played,” Gronk said on First Things First last week. He even found it odd that Maye, being such a high draft pick, was only given six plays, suggesting that more time should be devoted to seeing what he can do.

The clock’s ticking in New England. As Wright put it, “He is going to end up being the starter. I have a date we can discuss later about when I think he’ll be. I don’t care so much if he starts Week One or not. I’m very confident he’s going to be starting before Halloween.”

Even the GOAT himself, Tom Brady, had chimed in on Maye’s situation back in May in an interview with Yahoo “His opportunity is going to be really what he makes of it, and how he wants to develop it, and how he wants to attack his profession, like we all do,” Brady said. He added, “It’s not where you’re at when you’re 22, it’s who you’re around when you’re 22. Who inspires you to be better? Who develops you?”

The Patriots are at a crossroads. Will they play it safe with Maye, or will they take a page from Belichick’s book and throw him into the deep end? As the season opener looms, one thing’s for sure – all eyes will be on that QB depth chart. And if Wright’s prediction holds, we might see Maye under center sooner rather than later, ready to write the next chapter in the Patriots’ storied legacy.