Patriots Enter Season With Thin Experience Behind Drake Maye
The short version
- Drake Maye, the 2025 NFL MVP runner-up, is New England's established starter.
- Backups Tommy DeVito and rookie Joshua Dobbs bring limited starting experience.
- DeVito went 3-3 as a starter in 2023 with the NFL's highest sack rate among qualified passers.
- DeVito did not appear in a regular-season game in 2025.
- A Garrett Podell analysis for CBS Sports detailed the depth concerns.
New England's quarterback room pairs Tommy DeVito and rookie Joshua Dobbs behind Drake Maye, raising questions about depth if the starter is injured.
Drake Maye sits atop the New England Patriots' quarterback depth chart, and the team's offensive identity runs through him. According to the source, Maye was the runner-up for the 2025 NFL MVP award and entered the league carrying major expectations before securing the starting job.
The picture behind Maye is far less settled. The Patriots carried Tommy DeVito and rookie Joshua Dobbs into the 2026 season as their reserve quarterbacks, a pairing that lacks the starting pedigree found in several other quarterback rooms across the league.
A CBS Sports analysis by Garrett Podell examined the situation in detail. Podell noted DeVito's 2023 stint with the New York Giants, when he won three of his six starts and threw eight touchdowns against three interceptions, producing a brief burst of national attention.
The underlying numbers from that season were less flattering. DeVito connected on 114 of 178 passes, a 64% completion rate, and absorbed 37 sacks across nine games. His 17.2% sack rate was the worst among the 37 quarterbacks who threw at least 175 passes that year.
DeVito showed sharper accuracy in limited 2024 action, hitting 31 of 44 attempts for a 70.5% completion percentage over three games, two of them starts. He threw no touchdowns in that stretch and was brought down six times behind the line.
He did not see the field in a regular-season game during 2025, which means game reps are scarce if Maye were to miss time. Dobbs adds athleticism and prior NFL experience from earlier stops, but neither reserve offers an extensive track record as a starter.
Maye's dual-threat ability gives the New England offense a distinctive element, per the source, so replacing him would demand more than plugging another passer into the same scheme. The absence of a seasoned veteran backup remains a notable vulnerability.
For now, the Patriots can only hope their depth issue stays hypothetical rather than becoming an in-season problem. The club's next contest is Sunday, September 27 at 1:00 PM EDT, when New England visits the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Stadium on CBS.
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