The New England Patriots\u2019 rookie class has not gotten off to the start many would have hoped. That is beyond No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye, who has been overall impressive in his first career seven starts.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrake\u2019s an anomaly,\u201d offensive coordinate Alex Van Pelt said Thursday. \u201cHe\u2019s playing at a high-level for a rookie quarterback and that\u2019s great for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Out of New England\u2019s eight picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, seven of them \u2014 including Maye \u2014 came on the offensive side of the ball. While the rest have had slow starts to their professional careers, Van Pelt remains confident in them all moving forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose guys are going to be good players,\u201d Van Pelt said. \u201cLayden [Robinson], Caedan [Wallace], [Jaheim] Bell, I mean, all of those guys, really happy with them. Are they starters in the NFL yet? Maybe not, but I think developable and I think they\u2019ll be there for us in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like the guys, there’s no question about that… I\u2019m not down on any of our rookies at all. I think there\u2019s a lot of potential in those guys, but they\u2019re young players and they have to continue to grow within the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Bell\u2019s role has slowly increased as the season\u2019s progressed, Robinson and Wallace have been sidelined in recent weeks due to performance and injury. That could soon change as Robinson may draw back into the starting lineup at left guard and Wallace is close to returning from injured reserve.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, rookie wide receivers Ja\u2019Lynn Polk and Javon Baker have bene largely unproductive this season. Despite still being a part of their game day group at receiver, Polk has managed just 12 catches for 87 yards with two touchdowns in 11 games. Baker, meanwhile, is still searching for his first receptions as he\u2019s played just 30 offensive snaps this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave consistent snaps in practice,\u201d Van Pelt responded when asked what Baker needs to do to see more consistent playing time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the details,\u201d he added. \u201cThe young guys, they just have to understand that this is a spacing game. You got to be in the right spot at the right time \u2014 time\u2019s up with the quarterback\u2019s footwork. And we\u2019re not quite there yet. We\u2019re getting there, but this isn\u2019t street ball. We\u2019re just not going where we feel like we need to be. It\u2019s got to be precise and that\u2019s how the passing game works in the NFL. These guys will continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Maye continues to headline the struggling group, the quarterback was not free of criticism himself. After turning the ball over 11 total times in his first seven starts, Van Pelt knows those must come to an end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe turnovers, they have to stop. There\u2019s no excuses there, rookie, 10-year player, vet, it doesn\u2019t matter. We can\u2019t turn the ball over and expect to win games. So, that\u2019s definitely an area of emphasis for us,\u201d Van Pelt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Drake, he just continues to develop. You forget sometimes that he is a rookie. There are some mistakes that he\u2019ll make just from experience that he just gets more reps in a certain place and understanding the concepts, but he continues to develop and does a really nice job. He\u2019s got to take care of the football.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The New England Patriots\u2019 rookie class has not gotten off to the start many would have hoped. That is beyond No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye, who… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n