Drake Maye

ESPN’s Mike Reiss reports Patriots rookies Drake Maye and Ja’Lynn Polk “made it a habit over the past four weeks to take extra repetitions after practice and were usually the last players to leave the field.”

“I think it’s important,” Maye said. “It’s picking up little things every day.” This kind of story is often an offseason practice contrivance, but it’s easy to spot the significance in this instance. Maye is the Patriots’ new franchise player and Polk sits atop a ludicrously thin receiver depth chart. Any success they might have on offense this season is going to depend in large part on this connection. It’s a great sign they are already working overtime to establish it.