Drake Maye will experience another NFL first this Sunday when he faces off against his hometown team in the Carolina Panthers.
The North Carolina product looks to get the New England Patriots back to the .500 mark. New England hass yet to win a home game this season and is just 3-16 at Gillette Stadium since the start of the 2023 season.
Maye spent most of his life rooting for the Panthers, headlined by a prime period in the mid 2010s when Cam Newton won the 2015 NFL MVP and led Carolina to an NFC title and a trip to Super Bowl 50. The Panthers eventually lost that game to Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.
Carolina shaped Maye’s football upbringing, but he clearly turned the page of his NFL allegiance long before the Patriots drafted him in April 2024.
“No twist, it’s pretty easy,” Maye said on “WEEI Afternoons” Monday. “It’s a lot of great memories with the Panthers and being a fan. Once they let go of Cam back in the day, they lost a fan in me. That was kind of it for me.”
Carolina moved on from Newton after the 2019 season. Newton played one season in New England as the immediate successor in Tom Brady’s departure from the Patriots. Newton had flashes of quality play with the Patriots, though the team went just 7-9 and missed the postseason. Newton eventually lost the starting drive in training camp in 2021 when first-round pick Mac Jones beat him out.
Newton led the Panthers to a 33-30 win in 2017 when Carolina last played at Gillette Stadium. New England and Carolina clash at 1 p.m. ET Sunday afternoon.
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