In his first full season as an NFL starting quarterback, Drake Maye quickly proved himself as the New England Patriots‘ next franchise quarterback.

Maye finished his sophomore season with 4,394 passing yards, 31 passing touchdowns and a 77.1 QBR, finishing Top-4 in each category. Add 450 rushing yards and four more scores, Maye helped New England clinch its first AFC East title since the 2019-20 NFL season. 1,000 postseason scrimmage yards and seven touchdowns later, Maye put the Pats back in their first Super Bowl – also since 2019.

As is customary with established starters, Maye isn’t playing in the preseason, sitting out both of New England’s first two games. During a Monday appearance on Massachusetts-based radio station WEEI, head coach Mike Vrabel elaborated on his decision to not play Patriots starters.

“We are the front office,” Vrabel said via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “We are all making the decisions. We’re all included in this. It was about the young guys we have to develop. You can see that the players we kept out of the game, those are the guys. And we have to be able to find some guys behind them to be backups, to be the first guy in … those are the things that we are trying to develop and I guess that’s what I was referencing.”

Don’t expect to see Maye during New England’s preseason finale this coming Thursday, which will be an 8 p.m. kickoff at the 0-2 Cleveland Browns.

When the Patriots open their regular season with a Super Bowl rematch at the Seattle Seahawks, expect Maye to continue as a featured part of the reigning AFC East Champions‘ offense.

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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: Mike Vrabel reveals why he doesn’t play Drake Maye in NFL Preseason