Tom Brady stepped in as the starting quarterback with the New England Patriots in 2001. He did his job with a well-supported roster. Not a star-studded roster, but one built to support a young quarterback with a solid defense, the building blocks of a running game and quality coaching.

Those situations aren’t always there around the league anymore, but the game’s elite quarterbacks benefited from those environments early in their careers.

Perfect example? Patrick Mahomes.

Brady detailed that Kliff Kingsbury’s play-calling in college at Texas Tech, Andy Reid’s offense with the Kansas City Chiefs and the mentorship of Alex Smith allowed Mahomes to speed up his escalation as one of the best to play the game with three Super Bowl titles already on his resume.

Brady reflected on his start at the position and how the support continued with the Patriots and led to New England’s own trio of titles early in the 2000s.

“I could never have reached this area of growth that I needed to; whether it was Year 1, Year 3 or Year 5. It was accelerated because of all the things I had in place,” Brady shared on “The Herd” on Wednesday. “When I was in college, I ran a pro style offense. I got drafted and I had Bill Belichick to teach me. I got to sit behind Drew Bledsoe. I worked really hard to learn all those things and embrace the challenge. I think when you’re a young quarterback, ultimately that’s what you’re trying to do. Be in a situation where you can learn, grow, develop. It’s all about mentorship. It’s all about that people that come into your life.”

Brady believes this to be the root of the development problem among modern young quarterbacks. The Patriots have the same problem now with Drake Maye. They tried to follow the right blueprint, bringing in Jacoby Brissett to play in front of the rookie and provide veteran mentorship. Instead, Maye now plays as the starter and still manages to make progress despite a 2-7 team record and a disastrous system around him early in this rebuild for the Patriots.

With Maye as an example, the physical traits that make him exciting are among the factors Brady searches for when assessing the state of the position.

“We always have to look at the physical makeup of these young players,” Brady added. “What are they capable of? Do they have good arms, do they have great arms? Are they athletic? Can they get out of the pocket?”

Maye checks those boxes for the Patriots across the board. So, the next step? The journey to mental excellence among quarterbacks at the NFL level.

“Then to me, there’s a mental element that always comes into quarterback play,” Brady said. “… There’s no way for me to really see sustained success in the NFL at the quarterback position if you don’t have total control of what’s being done out on the field. If you’re expecting your coach to call a play from the sideline and that play comes into your helmet, you’re going to call it. You’re going to walk to the line of scrimmage and that play’s going to be successful, regardless of the defensive look, you’re out of your mind. That’s not the way it works.”

If nothing else, the live game reps with Maye as the starting quarterback will only benefit him from getting those looks from the defense. He’s getting the chance to adjust against looks and understand coverages at the NFL.

That evolution from Maye will greatly benefit the Patriots. That said, there’s still plenty more to do as an organization to support the player that clearly has what it takes to be the next franchise quarterback with New England.