Despite the New England Patriots losing 14-13 to the Philadelphia Eagles, there was a lot to celebrate as rookie quarterback Drake Maye scored the first touchdown of his NFL career on the ground which sparked a ton of praise within the team. Besides Maye, there is a youthful renaissance happening with the team as they rally round the University of North Carolina signal-caller with one of them being Patriots tight end Jaheim Bell.
First @NFL TD 👏@DrakeMaye2 | #NEPats
📺: @wbzsports pic.twitter.com/rDzGw6MwtI
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) August 16, 2024
Also a rookie where he was selected in the seventh round coming out of Florida State University, Bell was a seminal reason why Maye scored the touchdown right before the end of the first half for New England. As soon as Maye went running with the ball, he went in the direction of Bell who has been impressive with his blocking, he would even go as far as to say that him along side others are “the future” of the team according to Mark Daniels of MassLive.
“I mean, s***, they drafted us all together. I just feel like we’re the future,” Bell said. “To be in on that touchdown all together, that means a lot. That’s our draft class. It shows what the future will look like for us. ”
Last season for the Seminoles, Bell caught 39 passes for 503 yards to go along with two touchdowns as he only spent one season with the program, playing for South Carolina the previous three seasons. The Patriots see Bell as a do it all tight end who can be involved in the offense while also making blocks, which he called the play that led to Maye scoring “very simple.”
Drake Maye part of Patriots youth movement
As for Maye’s performance overall, he completed six passes out of 11 attempts for 47 yards to go along with the rushing score as he looks to develop his game. Including him and Bell, the Patriots used seven of their eight draft picks last event on offensive players in the chance it makes an offense worth celebrating in the future as most were out for Maye’s score, a moment that was fulfilling for the rookie quarterback.
“It’s an awesome moment,” Maye said via Mass Live. “We spend a lot of time here in the rookie meetings. During the spring, it was just us. It was definitely cool to have those guys out there…It was cool to get out there with some of the guys that are in the same spot going through the same thing. It’s fun times for us – a moment that I will probably never forget.”
It truly is a new era for the Patriots which started when the franchise parted ways with long-time head coach Bill Belichick which they instead hired Jerod Mayo. He will be leading the charge of the youth movement as the 38-year old even said that they “hoped these guys can grow up together and develop.”
“It was great. It was great,” Mayo said. “Look, we hoped that these guys can grow up together and develop together, and we have a good nucleus of guys in the future, and that’s kind of what we were aiming for.”
New England’s final preseason game is next Sunday against the Washington Commanders.
