The New England Patriots were a mess last year. They had the 22nd-ranked defense and a bottom-three offense. But more alarmingly, they didn’t have many cornerstones on their roster apart from rookie QB Drake Maye. The NFL freshman took over midway through the season and showed flashes, but it was clear he needed help. So, the Patriots obliged.
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They hired Mike Vrabel as the new head coach, who went about reshaping the team. They made several impactful defensive signings, including DT Milton Williams and CB Carlton Davis III, and also added OT Morgan Moses and WR Stefon Diggs. In the draft, they prioritized tackle, running back, receiver, and center with their top four picks. All of those moves have helped improve the Patriots as a whole.
But more specifically, they put Maye in a position to succeed, with a clear focus on strengthening his offensive line and weapons cache. Now that the NFL schedule has been released, Yahoo’s Ben Fawkes revealed that after being favored in zero games in 2024, the Patriots are favored in 11 matchups in 2025 — thanks to the third-easiest strength of schedule.
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Fawkes has been tweeting a lot of information about how many individual games various teams are favored to win, but has not shared any sources for those odds. However, on most betting sites, the Patriots’ preseason win-loss over/under total is just 7.5—a far cry from 11.
Fans were divided about whether the Patriots, and Maye in particular, were deserving of that hype. One wondered, “Can someone explain what Drake Maye has done to warrant this hype?” while another hilariously asked, “Do they play the Saints 11 times?“.
Another was hoping to make some money off of what he saw as a massive oversight by oddsmakers: “Where can I bet on there total wins under 11??” However, others were backing Maye and his massive potential, saying “The people that are surprised, don’t know ball…drake maye is him”.
The post features a picture of Maye, which is probably why most of the comments focus on him being overhyped or underhyped. However, it’s the addition of a proven winner like Vrabel at the helm, along with the clear direction taken in their offseason moves, that really has people excited about the Patriots as a whole.
It all comes down to Drake Maye, obviously. But, the offensive line they’ve set him up with and the new set of skill players he has at his disposal are arguably just as important as the QB himself.
However, being favored in 11 wins seems a bit dubious to us. As that one fan said, if there were a sportsbook that posted the Patriots’ win-loss over/under at 11, we would jump all over the under. As it stands, however, we love the over on their actual 7.5-win prop.
