How much will Drake Maye play as Patriots have shot at No. 1 pick in Week 18?
FOXBORO -- We're in for an extremely weird Sunday at Gillette Stadium when the New England Patriots close out the 2024 season against the Buffalo Bills. The atmosphere will be an odd one, as the Patriots would be in much better shape with another loss.
Lose for a 14th time this season and the Patriots will secure the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. It will give the franchise a chance to take any player they want come April, or trade the selection for a package of picks that could help plug a number of holes up and down the roster. Win and New England could fall as far as the fourth pick.
So if you hear fans cheering whenever Buffalo scores, it's not because Gillette has been invaded by the Bills Mafia. Fans want another loss and the top pick.
But Jerod Mayo and his players are on the opposite end of the spectrum. They're professionals (albeit professionals playing a game for a living) and they want to win. "Tank" isn't in their vocabulary -- at least until the Krafts tell them otherwise.
It will make for a strange afternoon in Foxboro, as players fight to win and fans eagerly cheer for a loss.
This could be the final time we see free-agents-to-be Jonathan Jones or Deatrich Wise line up for the New England defense and Joey Slye attempt a field goal for the Patriots. And with some serious questions about Mayo's future, it could be the final time he takes the sideline as head coach, or at least does so with his current staff.
We won't see too much of Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is going to add another tally to his consecutive games streak and then take a spot on the Buffalo bench. From there, it will be The Mitch Trubisky Show (with a potential late fill-in appearance by Mike White) as the Bills look to stay healthy for the playoffs.
But really, all anyone in New England cares about is how much we'll see Drake Maye, and whether or not the Patriots secure that No. 1 pick. Here's what we'll be watching for as the 2024 Patriots season mercifully comes to an end on Sunday, before what could be another roller coaster of an offseason.
How much will Drake Maye play?
Mayo and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt both said that Maye is starting during the week. They see Week 18 as a chance for the rookie to continue his growth, and use what he learned against the Bills two weeks against the division rival this weekend.
But will he play the whole game? Van Pelt was slightly less committed on that front on Thursday.
"We're playing the game to win the game, for sure," Van Pelt said. "We'll see how it goes from that point. But yes, that's the intent."
While most around New England are in tank mode this weekend, there is a small smidgen of sense to starting Maye for the Patriots. He is a football player, and football players play football. Even star quarterbacks start these meaningless, late-season games.
But it makes much more sense to keep this to a limited appearance for Maye, much like the Bills are doing with Allen. The worst possible outcome for the Patriots would be Maye suffering an injury that would force him to miss time during an important offseason and potentially into next season. Maye needs to be ready to attack this offseason at full strength to put him in the best position to make a Year 2 jump.
Drake Maye is the future of the New England Patriots. If the focus is on the long-term future, even on Sunday, then it would be in the team's best interest to keep Maye protected from anything that could derail that future.
An extended look at Joe Milton III?
If Maye doesn't play the full game, the Patriots should turn to a fellow rookie in his place: Joe Milton III. We all know what Jacoby Brissett (a pending free agent) has to offer, so why not give the sixth-round pick a chance in Week 18?
Milton hasn't been active for a game yet this season, serving as New England's emergency third quarterback on game days. He's done the majority of his work on the scout team, earning him the praise of the coaching staff.
That workload changed this week, as Milton took some reps with the regular offense at practice. The Patriots should give him some playing time on Sunday, the team's only real chance to evaluate Milton in game action.
Brissett probably won't be back next season, so the Patriots need to see if Milton could potentially serve as a backup to Maye or if they'll have to invest in that spot this offseason. And it'd be nice to see Milton show off that big arm of his against an NFL defense, even if it is made up mostly of backups.
Fan Reaction at Gillette Stadium
It got ugly at the end of last Saturday's 40-7 loss to the Chargers, with a chorus of boos and some "Fire Mayo" chants from the fans that stuck around. (Not many of them did.) It could get even worse on Sunday.
Jahlani Tavai had some very strong words for those fans on Friday, which is not going to sit well with anyone who pays to go watch the team in Week 18. Tavai hasn't had a great season for a New England defense that has taken several steps back from last year, and his feelings toward the fanbase shows just how distracted and unfocused certain player are -- and have been -- this season.
Tavai better not miss any more tackles on Sunday, or he's going to really hear it from the Foxboro Faithful. But chances are fans are going to let a season's worth of frustration out no matter how the Patriots play against the Bills.
Whether the Patriots are actually winning late in the game or they're getting blown out by Buffalo's backups, those "Fire Mayo" chants will be louder this weekend. And while fans will always cheer for a team putting up a good fight and showing actual effort, winning a meaningless Week 18 is not what anyone outside of the organization (and likely many from within) want from this team at the moment.
The Out-of-Town Scoreboard
Win and the Patriots have the top pick in April. Lose, and they may fall down to the fourth overall selection. So scoreboard-watching will be a big part of everyone's Sunday afternoon in New England.
But even if the Patriots do lose, it will be important to see where the rest of the three-win bunch (The Browns, Titans, and Giants) end up this weekend.
The Browns will start old friend Bailey Zappe as they close out the season on Saturday afternoon in Baltimore against the 11-5 Ravens. The Titans host the Houston Texans, who are locked into the four-seed but have lost two straight and may want to get their starters playoff-ready. The Giants visit the Philadelphia Eagles, who are resting star running back Saquon Barkley and quarterback Jalen Hurts. Like the Patriots, the Titans and the Giants are also playing at 1pm on Sunday.
While strength of schedule is the tiebreaker used to determine the first round of the NFL Draft, any teams tied on the draft board are rotated in following rounds. The Commanders, Patriots, and Cardinals all finished with four wins last season, and after picking third, New England ended up with the second pick in the second round, fourth pick in the third round, and third pick in the fourth round.
The best-case scenario for the Patriots is to lose on Sunday, and have a few other teams pick up their fourth win on the final week of the season.
Tune in to Sunday's Patriots-Bills clash on WBZ-TV -- the television home of the New England Patriots. Pregame coverage begins Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. with Patriots GameDay on WBZ-TV and streaming on CBSBoston.com, and switch over to TV38 after the game for full reaction and analysis on Patriots 5th Quarter.
