New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has certainly gotten off to an impressive start to his rookie campaign, with surprising dual-threat capabilities.

But the Patriots might not be too thrilled with Mayes’ chops in the running game.

More specifically, New England isn’t crazy about the young signal caller taking extra hits, and head coach Jerod Mayo has made that abundantly clear.

“Well, our message to Drake — and we’ve had several conversations about this — is to continue to be the quarterback as long as possible, and that’s what we expect,” Mayo said, via NESN’s Keagan Stiefel. “Now, in saying that, absolutely, it’s going to run the game plan at some point. We’re still evolving as an offense, and I think Drake continues to get better. So we’re putting more on his plate.”

The Pats need look no further than Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis to see what can happen when a quarterback constantly takes on defenders in the open field, and they clearly want Maye to avoid unnecessary contact.

Maye replaced Jacoby Brissett as the Patriots starting quarterback in mid-October. Through seven appearances and six starts, he has thrown for 1,236 yards, nine touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 66.7 percent of his passes and posting an 87.5 passer rating.

Additionally, the 22-year-old has rushed for 260 yards and a score, averaging a robust 9.3 yards per carry.

New England selected Maye with the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft in April, and while there was legitimate questions around the University of North Carolina product at the time, it’s looking more and more like the Pats may have found theirs quarterback of the future.

That’s why protecting Maye is extremely important to the Patriots.

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