Drake Maye was placed in the NFL’s concussion protocol Sunday, but it didn’t come immediately after the New England Patriots rookie quarterback suffered the injury.
Maye seemingly suffered a concussion when he took a shot to the back of the head by New York Jets linebacker Jamien Sherwood. Sherwood delivered the punishing hit as Maye slid following an 18-yard run.
Maye remained in the game for four more plays before New England punted the ball away. Upon walking off the field, Maye was called into the blue medical tent.
Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo detailed the process, which he admitted “surprised” him.
“It was called down from the league,” Mayo told WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday morning. “They wanted to do further evaluation. When I went in there at halftime, he (Maye) wanted to go back out there, but obviously, he didn’t pass the test. And not going to get too far into that. But, at the same time, he went out there and threw a couple good balls after, I guess, supposedly put him in the protocol.”
Maye was slow to get up after he took the hit from Sherwood. The Patriots ran one more play before the end of the first quarter, then Maye was sacked on the second play of the second quarter and threw a pass that Kayshon Boutte dropped on his final play of the game.
Mayo told reporters Monday morning he didn’t see any warning signs of a concussion.
“I was surprised when (head trainer Jim) Whalen told me he had to go to the medical tent because he threw a couple of good balls afterward, and I thought he was still pretty sharp in those regards,” Mayo told reporters, per a team-provided video. “But obviously, it’s above my pay grade as far as pulling him out of the game and putting him in the protocol.”
Maye remains in concussion protocol and Mayo is not sure when he will return.
