Jerod Mayo risking a Patriots Mayday with Drake Maye decision

When the Drake Maye Era begins on Sunday at Gillette Stadium, nobody, least of all Patriots fans still clinging to the memory of Tom Brady playing quarterback for them, should not be expecting miracles.Rookie coach Jerod Mayo decided that after four games of watching Jacoby Brissett struggle, it was the right time to throw the third-overall pick of the draft to the wolves.Given the sorry nature of the New England offensive line and the paucity of weapons, there are skeptics expecting Mayday, an internationally recognized radio word to signal distress.Not Mayeday.

Mayday.It doesn’t automatically mean that Maye will be more Bryce Young than C.J.Stroud or Jayden Daniels, but at least the king of NFL draft experts believes he possesses the physical and mental toughness to weather the impending storm.“The only thing you hope is he doesn’t go out there and have this offensive line getting hit and hurt, and have a shoulder or a knee or something that’ll hamper him going into the offseason into next year,” ESPN’s legendary Mel Kiper Jr.

told Serby Says.Of course, if Maye wasn’t such a tantalizing prospect, Giants general manager Joe Schoen wouldn’t have attempted to trade up with the Patriots to land him.“Drake’s got all the talent in the world,” Kiper said.“I mean, there’s nothing he lacks.

He’s smart, he wants to be successful, he’s going to do everything he can to be a great quarterback — he’s going to put in all the time, he’s going to be the first one in the building, he’s going be the last one to leave.He’s going to do all the right things from an intangible standpoint.

Kid just turned 22 years of age.He said he needed to sit a little bit.

He sat a little bit.“Is he coming into a great situation with that offensive line? No.You just hope he doesn’t get hurt.

You just hope he can survive behind this offensive line and at least get some experience.“Troy Aikman told me, and Peyton Manning told me: You got to play.You g...