Drake Maye Camp Update — August 23: Thirteen Straight at the Eagles

2026 NFL Season · Sunday, Aug 23

Drake Maye went fifteen of eighteen against the Eagles' starting defense in Wednesday's joint practice, thirteen of them in a row, spread across nine receivers. The red zone was the honest wart of the two-day series, and Maye said so himself before dressing but not playing in Saturday's win.

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Drake Maye completed 15 of 18 passes against the Eagles' starting defense in Wednesday's joint practice, 13 of them consecutively at one stretch, spread across nine different receivers — that charting from Ian Logue at PatsFans.com. A.J. Brown caught all seven balls thrown his way, per Nicole Yang at The Boston Globe, and Evan Lazar at the team's website credited Maye with pinpoint work on crossing routes and throws made off his back foot under pressure. This came one week after a 25-dropback, one-sack day against the Colts' front, so the external tests are getting harder and the completion rate is not moving.

The protection in front of him graded out well where it counts. Per Lazar's one-on-one charting from the series, center Jared Wilson went three-and-one against Jordan Davis and right guard Mike Onwenu went three-and-oh against Jalen Carter and Moro Ojomo, while left tackle Will Campbell split his reps with Jalyx Hunt with stunt recognition still a developing skill. Maye's own review of the line, from his Thursday press conference on the team's website: they "stood in there and tried to take it on the chin."

The wart of the week was concentrated in Thursday's red-zone periods, which Lazar filed as the offense's clearest weakness of the series. Maye did not dispute it: "It's tough down there in the red zone. A lot of bodies in a small amount of space but I feel like we could have done more," plus the standing rule he keeps repeating — "You can't be late in the red zone down there. It's tight." Saturday he dressed for the 24 to 21 win over these same Eagles and did not take a snap, per the team's game observations, with Behren Morton and Tommy DeVito handling the night.

The June case for Maye was that his accuracy — league-leading completion percentage over expected last season — is a skill signal, not luck, and the only question was whether it survived a rebuilt receiver room. Two joint-practice series against two starting defenses have now said it does. What to watch after cutdown on Sunday, August thirtieth: whether the red-zone install tightens before the opener, and what the final 53 looks like on the interior line that protects him, where the depth has thinned all month. We'll check after cut day.

_Data via nflverse._

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