Drake Maye was consistently compared to Josh Allen heading into the 2024 NFL Draft, and the Patriots signed a player who had experience with playing with the Buffalo Bills superstar.
New England signed Mack Hollins as its first wide receiver free-agent addition. The eighth-year wideout played under Josh McDaniels with the Las Vegas Raiders and also attended North Carolina when Drake Maye’s brother Luke Maye played for the Tar Heels men’s basketball team.
Hollins became a reliable target for Allen last season, and he offered his assessment of Drake Maye, whom he described as a “fierce competitor.”
“I think one thing I learned playing with Josh was you got to have some good conditioning because the play’s not over, and being able to see that in Drake’s game, it’s like, great, I can just carry it over,” Hollins told reporters Friday, per a team-provided video. “Just always be available because you never know when Drake might spin out of, duck under, jump over. You got to be there because there’s nothing worse as a player — and this is little league when I used to do it, when I was a quarterback — it’s like you come out of a cool move in the backfield, you look and your receiver’s already walking because they think you got tackled. So to be able to be that guy and kind of get the whole room and whole team on that same wavelength of like, ‘Drake’s not down yet,’ is gonna be good.”
Hollins explained the leadership he’ll provide to New England, and his assessment of Maye’s game should excite Patriots fans. People around the NFL already feared the ceiling of the Mike Vrabel-Maye duo, and if New England can continue to provide him support, the quarterback will get a chance to reach his potential.
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Featured image via Gregory Fisher/Imagn Images
