Tom Brady's former quarterback coach provides promising evaluation of Patriots' Drake Maye

The New England Patriots' Post-Brady Era has not been as successful as the team would have hoped. And that's because they haven't been able to find anyone who remotely matches Brady's ability to lead the team on the field. 

However, they are hoping that Drake Maye, who the Patriots selected with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, will change the narrative. And it seems one person who was very close to Brady thinks that the future Hall of Fame quarterback and the newest edition to New England share an important quality. 

Speaking with MassLive, Brady's quarterback coach in Tampa Bay and Peyton Manning’s offensive coordinator in Indianapolis, Clyde Christensen spoke about what he saw in Maye while serving as a volunteer analyst on Mack Brown’s offensive staff at the University of North Carolina last season. 

“You hate to even talk about (Maye) in those sentences with those guys because of the longevity — how they performed so well for so long — but I think he has a lot of the same traits that give you a chance to be great,” Christensen said. “You need some luck. You need to stay healthy. You need some teammates. You need a lot of things to go with it.

“But he processes information extremely well, a lot like Peyton. He has a humbleness and a humility like Tom that players play for him. He has that kind of humility that just attracts teammates. He’s going to be a great teammate. There’s nobody in our (North Carolina) locker room who you’d find (with) a bad word about him. He just fits in. He’s one of the guys. Yet is able to lead and rally people together and call people out if (he) needs to — but he does it in a good way.”

MassLive added that Christensen would compare Maye to Andrew Luck. But his leadership abilities are what is similar to Brady. 

“I think he does have that awareness of what’s going on around, which is huge,” Christensen added. “It’s a huge thing to have. When do you jump on the offensive line? When do you just try to build them up? When do you give the receivers a kick in the butt? When do you hug them up? He does have a knack for that. An awareness of when and where and how that’s huge.”