On Thursday night, rookie quarterback Drake Maye made his NFL debut during garbage time, running out the clock while getting some enhanced preseason reps against a stout defense.
Does the shift from Jacoby Brissett to Maye mean that it’s now time for the Drake?
“I don’t know,” coach Jerod Mayo told reporters after the game, via Alex Barth of 98.5 The Sports Hub. “We talk about it every single week . . . we’ll get together as a coaching staff.”
As to the decision to put Maye in the game, Mayo said, “I thought it was too good of an opportunity for him to go out there and get him some experience,” via Mark Daniels of MassLive.
That’s really all it was. There was no urgency to try to make a 24-3 stinker into a game. They didn’t even use a single timeout in an effort to make the final score slightly more respectable.
Whether it’s next weekend in San Francisco or at some point after that, Maye’s time is coming. It’s just a question of when. And, as the Week 1 upset of the Bengals begins to slip deep into the rear-view mirror, when is likely going to be sooner rather than later.