New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is ramping up for the biggest game of his young career \u2014 the Super Bowl at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara \u2014 but he showed up on the team\u2019s injury report more than a week out. Maye was limited in Thursday\u2019s practice because of a shoulder issue and sat out Friday after feeling ill; coach Mike Vrabel said Maye would have practiced if not for that illness. As a result, backup Josh Dobbs took the first-team reps on Friday.<\/p>\n
Former UNC coach Mack Brown has lauded Maye\u2019s upside, suggesting the rookie could develop into one of the all-time greats. Both Maye and Vrabel have downplayed the shoulder problem this week, noting that nobody is ever truly 100 percent this time of year and expressing optimism that Maye will be ready to go for Sunday, Feb. 8. The No. 3 overall pick in 2024 admitted to dealing with \u201cbruises and bumps\u201d but said he felt good after the AFC Championship win over Denver.<\/p>\n
When asked Thursday how worried he was about Maye, Vrabel replied that he wasn\u2019t particularly concerned. Still, fans understandably fret about whether Maye\u2019s shoulder will hold up through a full game \u2014 especially since he\u2019s a mobile quarterback who will face a top-tier defense. If Maye needs to leave the field for any length of time, Dobbs is the immediate replacement, so it\u2019s worth reviewing his background.<\/p>\n
Dobbs, 31, entered the NFL in 2017 as a fourth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers and has since had stops in Jacksonville, Cleveland, Detroit, Tennessee, Arizona, Minnesota and San Francisco. He signed a two-year, $8 million deal with the Patriots in March 2025, making New England his ninth NFL organization. Dobbs hasn\u2019t started this season; his most recent start came in 2024 in a 47-24 loss to Arizona, when he completed 29 passes for a 67.4% completion rate with two touchdowns and two interceptions. His NFL starting record is 3\u201312. Over nine seasons he has completed 351 passes for 3,346 yards (62.8%), with 17 TDs and 15 INTs, plus 515 rushing yards and eight rushing TDs.<\/p>\n
The Patriots rebuilt quickly after consecutive 4\u201313 campaigns, hiring a new coach, shoring up the defense and improving the offensive line \u2014 and Maye\u2019s arm played a huge role in their turnaround. He finished the regular season among league leaders in several categories: fourth in passing yards (4,394), third in passing touchdowns (31), fourth in rushing yards by a QB (450) and fifth in rushing touchdowns by a QB (5). His production dipped in the playoffs, a trend that can be attributed to facing top-five defenses, poor weather in two games and his relative lack of postseason experience. With the stakes so high and betting lines showing a narrow margin, getting Maye close to full strength is vital for New England\u2019s Super Bowl chances.<\/p>\n
The Patriots\u2019 third-string option is Tommy DeVito, known for his time with the New York Giants. The Super Bowl broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, with Bad Bunny scheduled to perform at halftime.<\/p>\n
Fan Take: This matters because a quarterback\u2019s health can single-handedly swing the outcome of the Super Bowl \u2014 if Maye isn\u2019t fully healthy, the Patriots\u2019 title hopes hinge on the readiness of an experienced but seldom-used backup. More broadly, the situation highlights how teams must balance protecting young franchise quarterbacks while still trying to win the sport\u2019s biggest prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye is ramping up for the biggest game of his young career \u2014 the Super Bowl at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara \u2014 but he showed up on the team\u2019s injury report more than a week out. Maye was limited in Thursday\u2019s practice because of a shoulder issue and sat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40448,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[859],"tags":[860],"class_list":{"0":"post-40447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}