Patriots, Drake Maye Dubbed Losers of 2024 NFL Schedule Release

It looks like we could be in for a bumpy road during this first year of a fresh era in New England Patriots football.

After a lengthy offseason wait, New England, along with the rest of the NFL, finally got word of how their regular season schedule would fare from weeks one to 18.And while the release inevitably generates a bit of excitement in seeing the games for the year to come, some teams were handed no favors in their 2024 outlook.

Among those teams who got shorted were the Patriots, who by most metrics, will have one of the more challenging sets of games within the entire league. They come in with the eighth toughest strength of schedule at .512. With that, Wednesday's reveal also showcased how brutal things could look for this squad's first year without Bill Belichick.

In The Athletic's recent list diving into the biggest winners and losers of the NFL schedule release, the Patriots, and specifically Drake Maye, ended up suffering from one of the more unfortunate fates from the league-wide reveal, ultimately landing them as a loser during Wednesday night's drop.

"As if the No. 3 pick doesn’t have enough pressure on him... the Patriots might be taking on the most loaded schedule of quarterbacks in the NFL in 2024... They’re scheduled for two tilts each against Josh Allen, Aaron Rodgers and Tua Tagovailoa. They’ll visit Caleb Williams and the Bears. They’ll host 2023 first-rounders C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson. They’ll also greet Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Matthew Stafford, Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy and Kyler Murray... The Patriots’ primary goal in 2024 will be to develop Maye to create optimism and momentum for 2025. Everything else takes a back seat. But in the NFL where every storyline is hyper-magnified, Maye won’t get much of a reprieve from his opposing quarterbacks."

The Patriots' defense showed they were a unit with some bright spots last season, but they will have their work cut out for them in 2024. While New England might be spared from a matchup against Patrick Mahomes and the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs this year, they have several extremely talented quarterbacks on deck that could be a dangerous sight to take on later this year.

This is a team who also routinely struggled against top-end quarterback talent last season. The Patriots did manage to take down Josh Allen and the Bills once, but outside of that, wins against Mitch Trubisky, Zach Wilson, and Russell Wilson aren't jumping off the page. Now going up against high-level signal callers in 15 of their 17 contests for 2024, New England can't afford to be complacent on the defensive side of the ball.

For Drake Maye, it'll be challenging to go up against premier talent at the position for just his rookie season (if he ends up with the starting nod), but such a process can help be a great learning experience moving forward in his career. To be the best, you have to go up against the best, and the Patriots won't have an issue doing that in 2024.

Trust the process, Patriots fans.

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