All signs point to Patriots making major turnaround in Drake Maye sophomore season

In 2022, the Baltimore Ravens, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, and Seattle Seahawks all made postseason appearances after finishing in the basement of their respective divisions the previous season. A year later, it was the Cleveland Browns and Houston Texans who rebounded from last-place finishes in 2022 to reach the playoffs.

What more can be said about the 2024 Los Angeles Chargers and Washington Commanders? One-time NFL head coaches Jim Harbaugh and Dan Quinn struck gold with their new assignments. The Bolts were an 11-6 wild card team. Washington tripled its win total from 2023, got hot late and faced the Eagles in the NFC title game.

There have been seven new head-coaching hirings in the NFL this year. Via The Athletic, 10 league personnel executives and coaches were polled by the site to rank the moves. The Patriots’ hiring of one-time Tennessee Titans’ sideline leader Mike Vrabel was clearly the No. 1 choice.

NFL execs and coaches think Mike Vrabel is ready to bring the Patriots back

“(Vrabel has been a) successful head coach with bona fide leadership ability, which is underrated with the personalities in today’s game.”

According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, that statement comes from an executive “who, like all sources in this story, was granted anonymity so he could speak candidly about the coaches.”

“He’s really organized situationally within the game,” continued the executive. His personality fits the northeast, where they’re going to run the ball and play good defense. And he has a quarterback.”

That would be 2024 first-round pick Drake Maye. He showed plenty of savvy during his debut campaign. He made 13 appearances, and started the team’s final 12 games. There were more turnovers (16) than TD passes (15). He connected in 66.6 percent of his throws, and ran for 421 yards and a pair of scores.

There’s a lot to be excited about when it comes to the young signal-caller. There’s also the fact that the Pats have the fourth overall pick in the draft. The team is in dire need of an overhaul on the offensive line. A few high picks, as well as some aggressive moves in free agency (via Spotrac, the Patriots have the most salary cap room in the league to play with), and back-to-back 4-13 seasons in the AFC East could be distant memories by next January.