The most important asset any NFL team can have in this day and age is a capable starting quarterback. Based on his 2024 rookie season, it appears that Drake Maye can become just that for the New England Patriots.

In order to get there, however, he will need to be developed properly. That job is now the responsibility of Josh McDaniels, who was hired as the Patriots’ next offensive coordinator on Tuesday.

McDaniels, who has held that title twice before for a combined 13 seasons, is one of the most experienced and successful OCs in the NFL. He also has worked with several quarterbacks who have performed at a starter-caliber level during their careers — from the greatest of all time, Tom Brady, to the likes of Jimmy Garoppolo, Cam Newton and Mac Jones.

Now, his focus will be on adding Drake Maye to that list and helping him become the face of the franchise he was drafted to be. How will McDaniels do that, though? He gave an answer to that question during an appearance on Julian Edelman’s Games With Names podcast last summer.

While talking about developing rookie quarterbacks in general, a lot of what was said will likely be applied to Maye and fellow Patriots QB Joe Milton in 2025 and beyond.

“You have to have a plan, and that obviously starts from the head coach and his perspective. You have to be able to agree on how you’re going to kind of unveil that thing to the player, and ultimately bring him along,” McDaniels explained. “At the end of the day, you have to take the player where he’s at when he comes in. Whether that was [Matt] Cassel, or [Jimmy] Garoppolo, or [Jarrett] Stidham, or [Jacoby] Brissett, or Mac [Jones], Aidan O’Connell — you have to take the player where he’s at.

“They’re all at different spots. They all have been taught different things. They have all digested different amounts of information. Some have played in different systems than yours. Some have maybe played in some that are a little more like yours. You just have to figure out, ‘Alright, what do they know and what am I going to try to push forward to get him to progress the quickest?”

As part of his answer, McDaniels laid out a potential timeline for how to bring a quarterback up to speed — starting with a focus on cadence, play calls and footwork during organized team activities in the spring, and later progressing to seeing coverages, understanding defenses and setting protections in training camp. From that point on, the attention will then shift toward other areas such as the red zone, third downs and two-minute offense.

“ There are a lot of things that go into it, but I think it’s just having a really good feel for where the player is at. You can’t just keep throwing stuff at him,” McDaniels said.

“I always talk about it, they have a bucket. … But when you take a young quarterback, it’s more like a cup. You have to put some stuff in his cup, and when it gets to the top you have to stop. And then make sure that he has this and can do it well, and then when he’s ready for more you can give him a bigger cup. Then, hopefully, he ends up with a bucket and you have a bunch of stuff in there that he can do well. But there’s no shortcut to it, and I think knowing where the player’s at is really important.”

The third overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, Maye does come with some NFL experience. Having spent a whole year in New England under previous Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and quarterbacks coach T.C. McCartney, he already showed strides from the talented-but-raw player he was at North Carolina.

In total, Maye started 12 of his 13 games as a rookie. He ended the season completing 225 of 338 pass attempts (66.6%) for 2,276 yards with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also was one of the most productive rushing quarterbacks in the league last year, gaining 423 rushing yards on 52 non-kneel-down runs for an average of 8.1 yards per carry; Maye also scored a pair of rushing touchdowns.

How McDaniels will incorporate Maye’s dual-threat ability remains to be seen. What seems to be part of the plan, though, is putting plenty of responsibility on the young passer from early on.

“Everybody does the same thing once the ball’s snapped. Really what we’re talking about is pre-snap responsibility,” McDaniels explained. “I always looked at it like a mountain. In the beginning, we’re at the bottom, we’re trying to climb it. At the beginning when you start talking to them about making the calls and setting the protections and dealing with the run game — all those things that we taught our players how to do — it’s harder because it’s foreign. It’s not that they don’t understand it, it’s just different.

“So, at the beginning, when they’re at the bottom of the mountain and look up, it’s ‘Hot damn that’s a tall mountain.’ But I always fell like as we went through the first year, ‘Alright, you’re getting up the mountain. You know it, I know it, we all know it.’ And once you get to the top of the mountain, now there’s nothing left to climb because you understand it. You understand how to manipulate protection. You understand how to solve your issues with blitz zero and those kind of things.”

Time will tell how much McDaniels will put on Maye’s plate — or: into his bucket — early on in their time together. However, the ultimate goal is to have him run the offense by himself once on the field.

“Having the quarterback never be responsible for any of that stuff, there’s some downside to it,” the Patriots’ third-time offensive coordinator said. “Other people might argue that that’s not the case, but I would say there are pros and cons to both. I love the idea of having the quarterback able to understand it all.”