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Patriots' Mike Vrabel Reveals Drake Maye's Run Game Future

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel spoke about the degree to which the team may utilize Drake Maye outside the passing game moving forward.
Daniel Arwas|
Nov 9, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel walks downfield during the third quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Nov 9, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel walks downfield during the third quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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New England Patriots

The New England Patriots have not only outperformed the wildest expectations over the past few months, but have risen to become the favorite to grasp the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

The Patriots are one of the few balanced teams to rank in the top 10 in both total offense and defense - coming in at eighth in both statistical categories. However, the team has had one continuing Achilles Heel throughout the year - the run game.

New England are sixth in passing offense, but all the way down in 19th for the rushing offense. After rookie, TreVeyon Henderson; who has put together some strong since taking the lead back role in the wake of Rhamondre Stevenson missing time with injury, managing 558 yards on the ground for the year; quarterback, Drake Maye is the team's second leading rusher with 307 yards.

Mike Vrabel Talks About The Plan For The Ground Game

In light of this, head coach, Mike Vrabel was asked about the future of Maye's participation in the run game, particularly with respect to designed runs for the second-year quarterback, to which Vrabel expressed caution for his franchise QB moving forward in response.

"You kinda wanna be careful." Vrabel warned in speaking to the media, per WEEI's Tom Carroll.

"Guys are going in concussion protocol left and right. We’ll be willing to do anything to win a football game, but I think just being smart is probably the biggest thing. And we’ve run Drake, and he’s run himself, and we’ve handed it off to the running backs. So it’s just about a good balance of plays that we feel like can help us.”

Drake Maye Could See His Role In The Run Game Diminish In The Future

With Stevenson back, and Henderson looking more and more like the player the Patriots were hoping he would be when they selected the Ohio State man with the 38th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft back in April, it certainly figures that Vrabel would want to reduce the amount of unnecessary injury exposure to the team's best player and one of the two leading NFL MVP candidates, along with the Los Angeles Rams' Matthew Stafford.

Maye got the team out of many holes earlier on in the season, but as New England's performances have started to improve and become more consistent - particularly on offense, the need for Maye to scramble around and play "Hero Ball" on the feet has lessened.

This is not to say that the team does not want to utilize Maye's impressive athleticism in addition to his capabilities throwing the ball from the pocket. But, judging from Vrabel's comments, it would not be shocking to see Maye be given fewer and fewer designed opportunities to run the ball.

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Daniel Arwas
DANIEL ARWAS

Daniel Arwas is a writer for On SI, covering the New England Patriots. Daniel began his career in the sports industry in 2022 and has covered the NFL for Heavy, Gridiron Heroics, and The Hammer. Daniel is also a former Sports Trader at Betclic Group, where he co-led the NFL and Boxing teams. Daniel has a Bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the University of British Columbia, where he graduated in 2021.

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