FOXBOROUGH, MA – Kayshon Boutte spoke for everybody as the New England Patriots rolled to a 33-15 victory over the New York Giants during a Dec. 1 “Monday Night Football” game.
“(Does) anybody know what they mean when they be like Drake ‘Drake Maye’ Maye?” Boutte said while wearing a microphone in a behind-the-scenes video published by the team. “What the hell does that mean? They giving him a middle name, I guess.”
Much like the uber-viral “6-7” theme, the nickname of the Patriots’ second-year quarterback – and more importantly its origin and proliferation – comes from the realm of the unexplainable.
On multiple occasions in December, USA TODAY Sports canvassed the Patriots’ locker room to see if anybody understood the nickname. Not a soul could point to any good reason for it.
Not even Patriots teammates get Drake ‘Drake Maye’ Maye
“I have no clue,” quarterback Tommy DeVito told USA TODAY Sports. “I think it’s just something that caught fire on TikTok or whatever.
“I mean, all the younger dudes now on Twitter, they come up with the whole, like the ‘6-7’ or this thing. I don’t keep track of that stuff anymore, but that’s what it is.”
The internet, social media specifically, dominates modern culture. Maye’s eponymous nickname is another example of something breaking through the clutter.
“Um, I don’t get the nickname, no,” kicker Andy Borregales told USA TODAY Sports.
Sometimes Borregales will call the North Carolina product his newfound name, “Drake Drake Maye Maye” – but it is a mouthful.
“It is a nice touch, makes it funny,” Borregales said. “but, you know, I don’t know what it means.
“I don’t know how it became a thing, why it became a thing, but we love it.”
Head coach Mike Vrabel was asked about the nickname during an appearance on local radio station WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” The 50-year-old said it’s simply something for a different generation to enjoy.
“I’m not really sure,” Vrabel said about the nickname. “I just heard about it 10 seconds ago. I couldn’t even figure out ‘6-7,’ and now it’s Drake ‘Drake Maye’ Maye-Maye, I don’t know.”
“I don’t know what it is, but guys always say it … I don’t know what that really means. So yeah, I’m not sure really. Is that a thing?” said wide receiver Mack Hollins, a TikTok star in his own right.
Rookie left tackle Will Campbell, one of Maye’s closest friends on the team (evidenced by him arriving to the Bills game in a t-shirt that read “I (heart emoji) Drake Maye”), said it was already viral by the time he interrupted Maye’s postgame news conference following a 27-14 win over the New York Jets on Nov. 13. He just wanted to hop in on the fun.
Even Tom Brady, the former New England Patriots quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion, endorsed the nickname by using it during a power-rankings video he made for Fox Sports.
And like Brady, Maye places a premium on the sport’s top prize: the Lombardi Trophy. Maye’s name will remain in the MVP conversation, with a prime-time matchup against two-time winner of the award Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens on “Sunday Night Football” on Dec. 21.
“The MVP is obviously one of the big accolades for this league, and it’s something that is an honor as a player to earn that award, and I respect all the past MVPs, but I think at the end of the day, winning the Super Bowl is the biggest thing,” Maye said. “I think it’s what kind of makes this league go – is winning the big one.”
Personal accolades are the offspring of winning. Maye understands that.
“I hope people in that locker room,” he began before clarifying himself. “I know a lot of them feel the same way.”
Why Drake Maye’s ‘Drake Maye’ nickname works
If the nickname works – Maye has the Patriots in first place and on the cusp of securing a playoff berth – then what’s the harm?
“The nickname inside the name?” Hollins, 32, said of the younger Patriots rallying around the bit. “More power to them if it’s helping them, you know?”
According to DeVito, Maye is “rolling with it” as a nickname.
“He’s just a humble guy,” said Borregales, who entered the league the same year as Maye. He added that the quarterback treats everything that comes at him with an air of “that’s cool.”
“He’s trying to do him, be a blessing,” Borregales said.
The latest example of that was during the Patriots’ 35-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 14, which snapped a 10-game winning streak, came during TreVeyon Henderson’s 65-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
After Henderson ran into a wall at the line of scrimmage and reversed course up the left side of the field, it was Maye who sprinted ahead of him for a bit and did his best to impede the path of a would-be tackler. According to Next Gen Stats, Maye ran the fastest he ever had in his career (20.58 miles per hour).
“It’s an embodiment of who this locker room is,” center Garrett Bradbury told USA TODAY Sports.
And all Drake Maye had to do was … be Drake Maye. Maybe it does kind of make sense.