FOXBORO — A Patriots practice doesn’t go by without rookie Drake Maye flashing why he was the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Maye’s best throw Sunday on Day 4 of Patriots training camp just happened to be his first of competitive drills.

Maye was early, as usual, to practice, walking onto the field with veteran quarterback, and current starter, Jacoby Brissett, at 10:51 a.m., nine minutes before the 11 a.m. start time.

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Maye stretched alongside his fellow signal-callers before the quarterbacks split off with the offensive line, running back Rhamondre Stevenson and tight end Hunter Henry for walk-through work.

The quarterbacks then went through their now usual routine of throwing to Patriots staffers, then running backs, then tight ends before congregating with wide receivers in the practice’s sixth period. Maye was accurate on passes without defenders in coverage to wide receivers Jalen Reagor, Kawaan Baker, Ja’Lynn Polk, Javon Baker and Tyquan Thornton.

Then head coach Jerod Mayo ramped up the intensity in the team’s fourth practice by splitting the team into 1-on-1 work. Maye and Brissett through to wide receivers with cornerbacks in coverage, and Bailey Zappe and Joe Milton threw to running backs and tight ends with safeties and linebackers in coverage.

Brissett went 1-of-4 to start 1-on-1s before it was Maye’s turn to throw. His first target was deep to wide receiver Kayshon Boutte down the right sideline with cornerback Christian Gonzalez in nearly perfect coverage. Boutte had his left foot down while making the catch, got his right foot down and then his left foot landed out of bounds. As long as that first first counted, Boutte was in, and Maye hit him perfectly in stride.

Drake Maye with a BOMB to Kayshon Boutte on Christian Gonzalez

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“Gonzo’s one of the more patient corners,” Boutte said. “You just gotta do a lot of things to beat him. I think when I gave him the stutter at 10 yards, he was kind of thinking I was going to come back on a comeback. He played my low shoulder, so it was just late hands over-the-top catch.”

The 1-on-1 period wasn’t perfect for Maye, who completed 4-of-12 passes in the 1-on-1s. That included a pass that Boutte dropped and a ball that Maye perfectly placed to wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, who allowed cornerback Alex Austin to pop the ball out.

Might’ve been Drake Maye’s best throw this summer

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“Drake got that nice touch on the ball,” wide receiver Tyquan Thornton said after practice.

Maye was off the mark on other incompletions during 1-on-1s, so his wide receivers weren’t completely to blame for his low completion rate.

In 7-on-7s, Brissett started things out 2-of-4 before Maye took the field. The offense was not immediately on the same page before the snap and had to reset. He was 2-of-3 in the period but also took a sack.

Maye was 3-of-4 in his first 11-on-11 period, completing short passes to Polk, Javon Baker and tight end La’Michael Pettway. The offense did need to reset the huddle at another point, however, and rookie guard Layden Robinson jumped for a false start. Maye’s incompletion was broken up by Austin on a target to wide receiver K.J. Osborn.

Quarterbacks then worked with Smith-Schuster and tight end Hunter Henry while most of the team was doing special teams drills.

The entire team then reconvened for 11-on-11s. Brissett was 3-of-4. Maye also went 3-of-4 with short passes to Osborn, Pettway and running back JaMycal Hasty. His incompletion was thrown behind Osborn for a drop.

Brissett was 2-of-2 on his final set of 11-on-11s with a sack. Maye went 3-of-5, hitting Reagor on a stop route, Boutte on a slant and running back Kevin Harris on a checkdown. His incompletions were a busted screen and a target way wide of tight end Mitchell Wilcox.

Overall, Maye went 15-of-28, including 1-on-1s, 7-on-7s and 11-on-11s. He completed a higher rate of passes in strictly 11-on-11s, going 9-of-13, but his completions didn’t have the same high rate of difficulty. Brissett went 19-of-29 overall and 5-of-8 in 11-on-11s. Zappe was 5-of-7 in team drills and 2-of-3 in 11-on-11s. Rookie Joe Milton III was 3-of-7 with an interception in 11-on-11s. He was picked off by linebacker Joe Giles-Harris on a throw over the middle to Javon Baker.

Maye will strap on the pads for the first time in his pro career Monday when the Patriots take the field for their fifth practice of training camp.