Drake Maye finds himself in the lane between an NFL rookie and an NFL veteran. He is currently neither. But at age 22, he is in the driver’s seat with functioning turn signals.

The New England Patriots will go where the quarterback goes in 2025. His development as a leader will play a part in just how far that is.

There’s room to merge.

“Well, I think we’re always trying to evolve in what we do, whether that’s leadership, whether that’s learning the other side of the football, whether that’s learning each other,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said during his Monday press conference outside Gillette Stadium. “Again, Drake, I think it’s a unique position being 22 – it’s kind of unique in that sense. So, I think that there is a lot of room to grow. I think there’s a lot of natural leadership qualities. I think I have to encourage him, continue to encourage him and to put him in those positions to do that so that the players understand that there’s a different version of all of us.”

Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, stands a dozen starts into his career. He won’t turn 23 until after the preseason schedule reaches the rearview in August.

“I think it’s an opportunity for me to take a jump from last year being a rookie, trying to come in here and kind of earn my stripe, earn my keep through hard work,” Maye told reporters following the first practice of mandatory minicamp. “And I think this year it’s the same approach. You got new guys in here, new staff. Got to keep getting to know everybody, got to show my work ethic and then kind of from there. As the season comes around, try to take the next step in leadership, leading the offense and hopefully leading this football team.”

Maye’s rookie year with the Patriots brought a 66.6% completion rate along with 2,276 yards through the air. Fifteen touchdowns were thrown. Ten interceptions also were. An additional 421 yards and pair of scores arrived by ground.

But turnover from the coaching staff to the roster has raised the ground in Foxborough since going 4-13 for the second time in as many years.

If something doesn’t look as it should, it will be addressed as it should.

“I think Coach Vrabel kind of set that tone when he came here and got hired of, ‘Hey, if you’re not doing the right thing, repeated times, there’s going to be some consequences,’” added Maye. “I think that’s something we needed to establish, and I think it’s something that me growing up with three older brothers and around older people my whole life, I’ve kind of been comfortable once I got acclimated – I feel like I definitely am now – to step into that zone.”

Maye, who made the Pro Bowl as an alternate, is driven to meet the new expectations under Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. And alongside a cast of new rookies as well as veterans ranging from wide receiver Stefon Diggs and offensive tackle Morgan Moses to defensive tackle Milton Williams and outside linebacker Harold Landry III.

“You want high expectations. That’s what you want,” the University of North Carolina product said. “The Patriots are used to winning, and that’s what we’re trying to get back to. I think you want people to expect you to play good. I think that pressure is kind of what fuels you to be out here, what fuels you to get the rep right in practice, what fuels you to work hard in the meetings or work hard in the weight room to kind of not let what happened last year happen again.”