Emergence of Brown, Doubs Heaps Pressure on Drake Maye to Continue Rise to Top
A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs gave Drake Maye a receiver room to envy, and two joint practices with the Eagles showed just how dangerous it can be.
Serious business.
If you were looking for a moniker to characterize the New England Patriots’ attitude for their offense, those two words say it all.
Two days of joint practice with the Philadelphia Eagles just confirmed that. They also propped the spotlight onto quarterback Drake Maye.
Major upgrade at wide receiver
Word travels fast around the National Football League, and folks from Miami to Seattle and everywhere in between now know that New England has put together an arsenal that many QBs have to envy.
The bottom line this offseason? A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs are greater than Stefon Diggs and whoever else was on the field in 2025.
This is no slight to Diggs, for sure. The veteran delivered 1,013 receiving yards on a scintillating 9.9 yards per target in clearing the plateau for the seventh time in his career. And he did it with nobody else on the roster drawing coverage.
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Raising the bar to new heights
But Brown and Doubs are a whole new ball game, and after a couple of strong performances vs. Philly, Maye certainly knows it.
“I think anytime a receiver like (Brown), who carries that much weight, and just finding ways to get him the football, and like I said, all the time, I try to get the ball into their hands because they make me look good … He has made a lot of plays in his career,” said Maye.
“(Doubs) has done some great things. The way he moves and kind of cuts off on some routes and can kind of move his body side to side and kind of get by people is really impressive, and it’s really fun to watch, and he’s only going to continue getting better and better as he gets more comfortable in this offense.”
Perfect timing for the QB
Maye has the help just in time as he enters his third pro season.
We’ve seen how this can go with quarterbacks. If Maye proves in Year 3 that he is “that guy” for the Patriots, you’re talking hundreds of millions of dollars in a contract extension in the offseason.
He’s coming off a runner-up to the MVP season, and that has set a nice foundation, but Maye saw firsthand what a Year 3 collapse can do to a bank account when Houston’s C.J. Stroud self-destructed in the 2025 postseason, turning the ball over four times at Gillette Stadium.
Now Maye has to avoid that and continue his amazing ride toward the top.