Drake Maye addresses cryptic shoulder, lands on Patriots' injury report

Doug Kyed, Boston Herald on Sep 30, 2026

Published in Football

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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — There was good reason why Drake Maye was evasive over the last three days when asked about a potential shoulder injury. Maye is dealing with a shoulder ailment, and it landed him on Wednesday’s injury report.

Maye was still a full participant in Wednesday’s practice despite the shoulder ailment. He finally gave a definitive answer about the injury Wednesday after practice when asked if it’s affecting how he’s throwing the football.

“No, it hasn’t. It hasn’t, and I think it doesn’t impact my decision making, and that’s what makes and breaks play for quarterbacks,” Maye said. “I don’t feel like we’re struggling to move the ball. I think we’re turning the football over, doing things that are preventing us from scoring touchdowns, and I think that’s one of the biggest things for me.

“I think we’ve had a history when we don’t turn the football over of playing good football and finding ourselves on the right side of games. So, that’s the biggest thing, and I’m looking forward to another good week of practice. It felt good out there today.”

Defensive tackle Christian Barmore (shoulder), cornerback Christian Gonzalez (shoulder) and offensive tackle Morgan Moses (foot) didn’t participate in practice Wednesday.

Linebacker Christian Elliss (chest), fullback Reggie Gilliam (knee), outside linebacker Dre’Mont Jones (shoulder), tight end Eli Raridon (thigh), safety Brenden Schooler (back) and safety Craig Woodson (shoulder) were limited in practice Wednesday.

Maye was first asked about the lingering effects of last postseason’s shoulder injury after Sunday’s 35-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

He said, in part, “Yeah, I mean, I like to say when you got that much time off and you get to focus on getting back that you’re going out there healthy. You’re gonna get banged up every now and then, but same time, a lot of guys are banged up.”

He was asked a follow-up on if it felt as good now as it did pre-injury. He still didn’t address the question completely head-on.

Maye was asked three times about his shoulder injury Monday afternoon on WEEI. He was evasive once again, stating, “Any time I’m out there, and I’m in uniform on the field, I’m gonna play 100% and give it my all. That’s kind of what I have to say.”

The Patriots face their toughest opponent of the season, the 3-0 Bills, on Sunday in Buffalo.

Despite the shoulder injury, Maye’s stats suggest that he’s still throwing the ball well, he’s just not making good decisions.

Maye leads the NFL with a 7.5% interception rate, which would be a career-high for the young quarterback, who had a 1.6% interception rate last season.

He currently has the lowest bad throw rate, a Pro Football Reference stat, of his career at 9.2%. That’s the sixth-lowest mark in the NFL. Despite being one of the most efficient quarterbacks in football last season, he had a 13.8% bad throw rate in 2025.

“That’s this position. There’s reps in the game, and there are ones that you know cost you,” Maye said. “It happens to be the more that you got to outweigh the good with the bad by a wide margin to play good in this position, and that’s quarterback. And I think I feel good throwing, and I feel like I got some throws I wish I had back as I always do, and definitely some decisions. But at the same time, gotta trust my guys and trust the guys up front that are doing a nice job to keep on playing football.”

In an ideal world, Maye would throw the football well and avoid poor decisions. He must fix his turnover issue this week against the Bills, however. Maye leads the NFL with six interceptions. He’s also lost a fumble. On the flip side, he’s thrown for just one touchdown pass this season.

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