QB Maye 'starting to find a stride' in new offense

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- On one red zone play late in Patriots mandatory minicamp practice Monday, quarterback Drake Maye fired a pass to rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson at the goal line for a touchdown, which led to a rousing cheer from the offense.

Soon after, Maye summed up his viewpoint on where things stand as spring practices come to an end this week, while he continues to learn coordinator Josh McDaniels' offense.

"I think we're catching the stride; I think I'm starting to find a stride," Maye said. "I'm bummed out we're about to leave, but it's fun."

The Patriots have one more practice Tuesday before an extended break. Maye has a special occasion to look forward to, with plans to marry longtime girlfriend Ann Michael Hudson on June 21. After that, he said he'll turn his attention to getting ready for the start of training camp in middle to late July.

Maye's growth as he enters his second NFL season, and also from the start of spring practices in late April, has been a hot-button topic in New England. His potential was cited by first-year coach Mike Vrabel as one of the appealing parts of the job.

In the first voluntary organized team activity open to reporters four weeks ago, Maye threw four interceptions, although one might have been nullified by a defensive penalty. He has looked sharper since, seldom turning the ball over.

"You can take that with a grain of salt, but at the same time, you don't want to turn the football over and get in bad habits," he said. "I feel like I've done a good job of trying to keep the football in our hands, and that's one of our key focuses."

Maye shared that focusing on "taking what's open, taking the first thing" has been an important adjustment for him because "when you tend to wait for the big one, holding the ball, sometimes it's not open."

"It's good for us to install plays, get a feel for what I like. Coach McDaniels has been awesome about asking what I like and what he expects from me on certain plays," he said. "So it's been good to be able to get that outside and on the field."

Meanwhile, Vrabel said on "The Bill O'Brien Podcast" that he has worked with Maye on "leadership and command; his mental approach, competitive stamina to play this position and understanding how hard it is in the league to win and play the quarterback position well."

Asked before Monday's practice about Maye's evolution as a leader, Vrabel said: "I think it's a unique position being 22, so I think there is a lot of room to grow. I think there's a lot of natural leadership qualities. I have to encourage him and to put him in those positions to do that."

One example of how Vrabel has done so came at the end of Monday's practice, when he aligned the offense across the goal line, put Maye in the middle and had him call out the cadence and simulate a snap count that gave every player the cue on when to run successive 30-yard sprints. If a player left early, Vrabel added a sprint.

Maye's voice boomed across the field. He said after practice that his biggest concern in that situation was helping teammates with the cadence so they wouldn't jump offside.

Of his voice growing louder in his second season, Maye said: "It's an opportunity for me to take a jump from last year being a rookie trying to come in here and earn my stripes through hard work. This year is the same approach -- you got new guys in here, new staff, keep on getting to know everybody, show my work ethic.

"From there, as the season comes around, try to take the next step in leadership and leading the offense and hopefully leading this football team."