How has Drake Maye grown as a leader? Here's what Josh McDaniels said

FOXBOROUGH — Drake Maye showed a lot of promise in his rookie year, but his performance throughout the 2025 season has been on a whole other level.

And many credit his impressive jump to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

The two have been working very closely, and with that, it has allowed McDaniels to take notice of Maye's growth, specifically as a leader.

"Quite a bit. I’d say his confidence,” McDaniels told reporters on Thursday. “He was very well aware of his standing, but he also wanted to go out there and win and kind of bring that along with him. I think it’s a lot easier to lead when you’ve had success and you’ve been a significant contributor to that.”

“Everybody knew he was the quarterback, everybody loved his personality, and he’s got incredible character and relationships around the building,” he added. “I think he wanted to be patient enough with that to try to have success and really try to step forward as a leader. He has done that, and I think you can tell by his confidence, the way he speaks to other guys in terms of trying to work together to improve some aspect of our offense.”

It's his willingness and want to always communicate with his teammates that is leading to the success on the field.

“He leads in the huddle, he leads out of the huddle, he leads on the sideline, in between practices,” McDaniels said. “You’ll see him after a series, sometimes, I’m looking for him because he’s walking up and down the sideline and communicating with his teammates, which I think is really important. They need to see him. They need to feel him. I know (Mike Vrabel) is really adamant about that too, and he's done a really good job in understanding his role in that."

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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: How has Drake Maye grown as a leader? Here's what Josh McDaniels said