New England Patriots second-year quarterback Drake Maye wasn't expected to be in an ideal situation this season, but he was expected to be in a better one than he was as a rookie after the team brought in Stefon Diggs in free agency, plus drafted running back TreVeyon Henderson to take more pressure off him.
Three games in and Diggs is fourth on the roster in receiving yards and the 1-2 Patriots look fairly lifeless. Sure, they scored 33 points in a win over the Dolphins, but let's remember that was a win over the 0-3 Dolphins. Against two teams that aren't the worst team in the NFL, New England is averaging 13.5 points per game.
Maye still looks like he can be a good NFL quarterback, but the support around him is severely lacking this season.
Stefon Diggs hasn't been Stefon Diggs
The obvious place to start is with Diggs, who is coming off a torn ACL. Signing him and expecting him to look like the Diggs of old coming off the injury may have been expecting too much, but New England surely was right to think they'd get more than they have from the former Bills star.
Diggs was solid in Week 1, catching six passes for 57 yards, but his usage has gone down ever since, with Sunday's loss to the Steelers finding Diggs with a stat line of three catches for 23 yards. Those were his only three targets and he played just 53 percent of the team's offensive snaps.
Adding Diggs was supposed to be the catalyst for a breakout campaign from Maye, but right now the two just aren't on the same page. But it isn't just Diggs who is disappointing.
Every Patriots offseason acquisition has been a no show
New England signed Mack Hollins to fight for the No. 3 role, but coming into Week 3, he had two receptions for 11 yards. He was a little more involved against Pittsburgh, but four catches for 27 yards still isn't going to cut it. The Patriots weren't expecting a star out of Hollins, but after catching a career-high five touchdowns in Buffalo last season, the team probably expected more than this.
What about rookie Kyle Williams? He has just two targets this season and has played a total of 26 offensive snaps. While you can't expect a ton out of a third-round rookie, New England was desperate this offseason for receiver help and Williams seemed like someone who could potentially come in and do something early on.
Efton Chism? The undrafted rookie was a standout player in the preseason who many thought could make an impact in this Patriots offense, but he's been a healthy scratch each week.
And what about running back TreVeyon Henderson? Another preseason standout, Henderson looked like a game-changing runner who would complement Rhamondre Stevenson well, allowing the team to lean on the run game and make life easier on Maye. Henderson, though, has just 65 rushing yards on 3.4 yards per carry through three games. The team should probably get him the ball more to see if he can run his way out of this funk.
There are players doing well in New England, like Hunter Henry — who caught two touchdowns on Sunday — and Kayshon Boutte, but those are players who were here last year. As far as new additions go, the Patriots have gotten what essentially amounts to nothing, and it's putting Maye in a tough spot.
The second-year passer is completing 72.6 percent of his passes so far, but if he can't get help from any of these new Patriots soon, that number will likely drop. Without help, the pressure on Maye will just keep growing, and that's a lot to shoulder as a young quarterback. New England is at risk of failing Maye unless the team can find a way to better utilize all of the players it added this offseason.