New England moved on from Stefon Diggs in March and went out and got A.J. Brown in a trade, then added Romeo Doubs behind him, which means Maye is breaking in a mostly new group of targets at the same time he's no longer breaking in the offense itself. Josh McDaniels is back for a second year calling the plays, and by every account out of camp Maye is now running the system instead of still learning it -- the install isn't the story anymore, the chemistry with Brown is.
What made Maye a problem last season wasn't a designed running game -- New England barely called him any -- it was what he did when the play in front of him died. He's a scrambler first, not a scheme runner, and he keeps his eyes downfield instead of tucking and bailing, which is why so much of his production came off broken plays rather than called ones. As a passer, he plays McDaniels' version of the offense the way it's supposed to be played: spread it to whoever's open rather than force it to one guy, and let the matchup dictate the throw instead of the depth chart. He did all of that a year ago with a receiving room that had one proven weapon in it.
The honest risk isn't talent, it's fit. Brown was still running the wrong route on live reps deep into camp, and integrating a receiver with his own habits and history into a new system takes longer than a few practices -- New England is banking on that catching up fast. There's also less margin now for a target to funnel through one guy the way it used to funnel through Diggs; spreading it around three or four weapons instead of one is harder to do cleanly, and Maye has exactly one full healthy season running an NFL offense to lean on as proof he can do it under more competition for the ball, not less.
Jayden Daniels is the closest thing on the board to Maye's own game -- another young, mobile quarterback who creates as much off structure as he does within it. The difference is what's behind each of them right now: Washington enters the season with a brand-new coordinator installing a different offensive identity after a season Daniels missed chunks of hurt, while Maye returns to the same play-caller who already got the best season of his career out of him and just handed him better targets to do it again. Continuity is the harder thing to find at this position, and right now Maye has it and Daniels doesn't.
