Spider-Man Meme? Patriots fans hope that’s the case with latest Drake Maye photo

The New England Patriots rebuffed trade offers for the No. 3 pick and selected North Carolina QB Drake Maye. That alone made the NFL Draft a resounding success for New England, a franchise in desperate need of a new centerpiece following the departure of Bill Belichick and his least favorite quarterback, Mac Jones.

Maye is pretty much the prototypical QB prospect. He's listed at 6-foot-5 with a cannon attached to his right arm and enough mobility to operate outside the pocket as needed. He needs to refine his accuracy and perhaps speed up his decision-making, but Maye has plenty of time to develop at 21 years old. The junior put in two solid starting seasons with the Tar Heels, and now looks to take charge of football's most storied organization.

This is a real inflection point for the Patriots, who have been floundering in no-man's land ever since Tom Brady left for the Florida coast. Mac Jones once felt like the logical successor — he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie and came up under Nick Saban at Alabama — but we all know what happened there. Jones' production and confidence evaporated in his second season. By year three, he was on Missing Person posters in downtown Boston.

Maye is the prodigal son in Foxboro, the man tasked with leading New England back to respectability in the AFC. That is a heavy burden, but Maye has the talent to deliver. He also appears to have one essential stamp of approval.

Tom Brady, Drake Maye snap photo ahead of rookie's Patriots debut

With training camp on the horizon, Maye is about to be thrown head-first into the fire. One has to believe these two didn't randomly cross paths in Los Angeles — this was a coordinated meeting of some kind, with Brady surely dropping words of wisdom for the Patriots' new signal-caller.

Brady wasn't around to snap photos with Mac Jones (okay, fine, that's not true). It's important not to ascribe too much meaning to a casual photo, but don't be shocked if your local New England fans are getting misty-eyed in the office on a Monday afternoon. This is the past and the present of Patriots football. A symbolic passing of the torch.

Odds are Maye won't be able to replicate Brady's success in Foxboro, but that is not the expectation. The Patriots just need stable QB play, ideally a few Pro Bowl appearances, and maybe some deep postseason runs down the line. Maye has all the talent in the world. In a normal draft, without Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, he would have been a real candidate for the No. 1 pick.

It's probably difficult to play quarterback in New England, always in the shadow of the all-time greatest. That doesn't mean Maye can't carve out his own path to success, though. Let's just hope the Patriots hold up their end of the bargain and put a half-decent team around him.