Patriots did their homework on Maye before taking him. Here's a report detailing the process that went into the decision to pick Maye 3rd overall.
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MSN
What encourages me about this decision is that the Pats entire brain trust was on this trip and got eyes on Maye personally.
"Perhaps the most important part of that process came late in March, when nine members of the Patriots organization spent nearly 24 hours in North Carolina as Maye was set to hold his Pro Day on March 28. That group included Mayo, director of scouting Eliot Wolf, offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney, senior assistant Ben McAdoo, senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith, director of player personnel Matt Groh, senior personnel advisor Patrick Stewart and national scout Matt Evans."
Wolf even put together a lowlights package of Maye's bad plays and the kid held himself accountable and never threw a teammate under the bus. That says something about his character.
“A lot of teams, they put up all the good plays of players. Eliot and his group, they put a tape together that had a lot of bad plays, and honestly he took a lot of that blame on himself even when sometimes it wasn’t his fault. A very accountable man,” Mayo explained.
The Patriots brass knew about Maye's weaknesses but felt he could work on them and came away impressed with his strengths and his makeup.
“At the end of the day, we felt comfortable with those things and really betting on the talent and the kid,” Wolf said. “Drake is a relentless worker from all the indications that we have, and he’s going to be able to overcome some of the things in the areas that he needs to improve.”
Before making a potentially franchise-altering decision you need to make a thorough investigation on the draft prospect. From the sounds of it they did just that. All of the top decision makers got a chance to talk to Drake Maye, get a look at him, and evaluate him before coming together and deciding, this is "the guy" we're taking at #3.
