QUARTERBACK DRAKE MAYE
Press Conference
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Q: How are things going for you and A.J. Brown? It looks like you're starting to connect fairly easily.
DM: It's hard not to get excited. What a player he is, and just right off the bat, what a great teammate so far. He was eager to learn. He's great with the guys in the locker room, and we just look forward to playing with a guy of that caliber. I know he's been a great player in this league. He's gone everywhere. He's been a guy that you see on SportsCenter the next day, making plays and scoring. The best thing about him, he's been a winner. He knows what it's like to win, and he's someone in that room that we were looking for. I think that's the best thing. I think Stefon Diggs provided it for us last year. Now there have been guys that are growing in their roles, but just coming in with that stature, his ability, his size, and just the respect that you walk in there with, that kind of Stef [Stefon Diggs] had, A.J.'s got it too.
Q: Drake, where are you this year minicamp-wise now with Josh [McDaniels], as far as feeling comfortable with the offense and doing what you do?
DM: I think it's just naturally night and day from last year this time. I was trying to get things right, trying to get guys knowing where I was making calls and getting guys lined up. Now we're just taking the next steps. That's the best thing about this time. You get to work on those things and also work on executing. That's the best thing Coach McDaniels does, pushing me hard. He's challenging me, and just trying to get comfortable here in OTAs, and getting comfortable with just doing things, being out here and just making throws. There's a reason and there's a why to it. That's the best thing about Coach McDaniels. He's so good about explaining that why and helping me get to know that why so I can play faster.
Q: Drake, it's a bigger group of receivers overall. What does it do for you as a quarterback to potentially look across the line and have a whole group of bigger targets?
DM: It's comforting, no doubt we've got guys out there that are a lot stronger than me in the weight room when I'm dumbbell benching with them. I think it's also something that adds in the run game. It brings physicality to us down here in the red zone. It makes it easier. Contested catches really are, they always say 50/50. We're trying not to make them that way, and that's when you've got guys that can make plays like that. I grew up throwing to my brothers my whole life that are 6'7", tall and big across the middle. I'm used to throwing guys at that size. It's awesome.
Q: You talk about the 50/50 balls and all that. That's something A.J. Brown was known for, being able to get those contested catches. What about his game have you seen in that aspect? Are you excited about having a receiver that you know if you throw that ball, he's going to do everything he can to make that catch?
DM: Yeah, it's really just on me to give him a chance to touch it, because more times than not, he's going to bring it in. That's exciting. Just knowing that a slant or something, a quick out, something that you can just give him the ball, he can go and break some tackles. He's tough to tackle, and guys don't want to tackle him. Romeo [Doubs] brings that, Mack [Hollins] brings that. We've got some guys that are tougher to tackle than you think. Then, when you get up there in your guard, you're like, "Man, he could catch a slant and take it the distance." That's more my mindset, to be on time, make good throws and let him run with it.
Q: There's a lot of focus on AJ Brown, but Demario Douglas has also been a favorite target of yours in these early practices. What are you seeing from him, and how has that connection grown between you two?
DM: Man, since I got as a rookie he always just does the right thing. He does the right thing, makes the right plays, makes catches. He's hard to cover. Like I said, you can't guard him in a phone booth. He's so good at breaking off in man coverage. He's a mismatch. He's so hard to stay in front of. Looking forward to seeing his role grow bigger.
Q: Drake, where do you feel like you've improved the most in your game?
DM: I think that's what you're out here doing. You're still trying to improve. It's hard for me to gauge. I'm just focused day-to-day and really not trying to pinpoint an area. I'm trying to get better in all areas. I think it's hard to pinpoint that. I think one thing is just making the right decision in the first few seconds I have the ball in my hand. Making the right decision, knowing sometimes incompletions are the best plays, not trying to hold the ball too long and get out of the habit of really trying to extend plays just because I feel like I haven't extended a play in a while.
Q: Josh said earlier that you have a rare ability to think ahead, to be ahead a couple of plays. When did you develop this ability to be able to do that, and what does it mean to you to be able to do that?
DM: I think it's just running plays or being in formation and just the love for, "Hey, next time in that formation, maybe we can do this." I think whether it's playing Madden or getting out there at a young age with my dad being in the formation and throwing a hitch route and you thought the corner jumped it in middle school, so next time you run a hitch and go. Little things like that where you just pick up on little things and, "Hey, maybe try this." Coach McDaniels is the best in business at it, so just trying to learn as much as I can from there.
Q: Ashton [Grant] and Josh were just talking about how they challenge you at the line, and you've gone up to the line with maybe no play call, and then it's on you to diagnose what's happening. How's that process been going, and how do you feel like the feedback -
DM: It's trying to be a play caller. It's tough in this environment when they've got 18 seconds on the clock in practice and I'm trying to do a hard count and trying to get us in a play that we like. I think it's awesome to challenge me and to push my limits of knowing the offense, knowing what play looks good against what the defense has up. The best thing that we've been trying to focus on is limiting negative plays. Negative plays in this league put you behind the chains, whether it's in the red zone, in base downs, and just trying to stay ahead of the chains and knowing that it's really on me to put us in good plays, get us out of bad plays and, stay ahead of the chains.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about what this last activity was that you guys were doing on the field with those sleds? It looked like team building. Talk us through what that was.
DM: We split up into teams, split up into families at the beginning of the offseason. We had about 13 teams, had some captains in each team, and some different guys, and had about seven players in each. So we've been keeping a point tally, how we've been doing with the families. I think my family is maybe in second, so we got some work to do to get that final first place push. But yeah, the lowest time to come out here and push some sleds and try to compete against each other, and just another way of team building, competing, and having to strategize, and have something that may not go right and try to fix it.
Q: What does the winning team get?
DM: Yeah, we asked that. We asked that in leadership group. I think [Mike] Vrabel's coming up with something. So hopefully something pretty good.
Q: What's it meant to you over the course of the last year plus going up against a guy like Carlton Davis [III] on a regular basis?
DM: Man, CD's [Carleton Davis] been awesome. He's awesome in the locker room. We got out there before practice and he's saying, "Hey, throw one at me and come challenge me today." So, he wants work. He's proven in this league as a guy to make plays on the football. He's one of the best at being physical, being on his man-to-man coverage, and he's a winner. He's won it and he knows what it's like to win. Obviously, he's done a lot of things right in his career. So, it's awesome to have him and Gonzo [Christian Gonzalez], and even some more corners and DBs. That back end group that they got over there, it was a real tough challenge for us and the receivers. It's been awesome. CD's always in a great mood, and he's fun to be out here with. So...
Q: Is it good to have Kayshon Boutte out there?
DM: Yeah, always is.
