The New England Patriots’ rookie class has not gotten off to the start many would have hoped. That is beyond No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye, who has been overall impressive in his first career seven starts.

“Drake’s an anomaly,” offensive coordinate Alex Van Pelt said Thursday. “He’s playing at a high-level for a rookie quarterback and that’s great for all of us.”

Out of New England’s eight picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, seven of them — including Maye — came on the offensive side of the ball. While the rest have had slow starts to their professional careers, Van Pelt remains confident in them all moving forward.

“Those guys are going to be good players,” Van Pelt said. “Layden [Robinson], Caedan [Wallace], [Jaheim] Bell, I mean, all of those guys, really happy with them. Are they starters in the NFL yet? Maybe not, but I think developable and I think they’ll be there for us in the future.

“I like the guys, there’s no question about that… I’m not down on any of our rookies at all. I think there’s a lot of potential in those guys, but they’re young players and they have to continue to grow within the system.”

While Bell’s role has slowly increased as the season’s progressed, Robinson and Wallace have been sidelined in recent weeks due to performance and injury. That could soon change as Robinson may draw back into the starting lineup at left guard and Wallace is close to returning from injured reserve.

Elsewhere, rookie wide receivers Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker have bene largely unproductive this season. Despite still being a part of their game day group at receiver, Polk has managed just 12 catches for 87 yards with two touchdowns in 11 games. Baker, meanwhile, is still searching for his first receptions as he’s played just 30 offensive snaps this season.

“Have consistent snaps in practice,” Van Pelt responded when asked what Baker needs to do to see more consistent playing time.

“It’s the details,” he added. “The young guys, they just have to understand that this is a spacing game. You got to be in the right spot at the right time — time’s up with the quarterback’s footwork. And we’re not quite there yet. We’re getting there, but this isn’t street ball. We’re just not going where we feel like we need to be. It’s got to be precise and that’s how the passing game works in the NFL. These guys will continue to grow.”

As Maye continues to headline the struggling group, the quarterback was not free of criticism himself. After turning the ball over 11 total times in his first seven starts, Van Pelt knows those must come to an end.

“The turnovers, they have to stop. There’s no excuses there, rookie, 10-year player, vet, it doesn’t matter. We can’t turn the ball over and expect to win games. So, that’s definitely an area of emphasis for us,” Van Pelt said.

“With Drake, he just continues to develop. You forget sometimes that he is a rookie. There are some mistakes that he’ll make just from experience that he just gets more reps in a certain place and understanding the concepts, but he continues to develop and does a really nice job. He’s got to take care of the football.”