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After all the prep, all the meetings and monotonous drawing of plays, all the work that went into the Pro Day, all the video they’d watched together to get him ready, Clyde Christensen was eager to see where his newest pupil landed in the NFL Draft.

For years, Christensen had been Peyton Manning’s top conduit on the Indianapolis Colts’ offense. Later, he buried the hatchet with Tom Brady — only once they shared Tampa Bay Buccaneers garb and Christensen served as Brady’s quarterbacks coach for a Super Bowl run together — joking about all their matchups against each other when Colts–New England Patriots was the biggest rivalry in the NFL.

Now, Christensen was ready to see where his next trainee would end up in the NFL. He thought so highly of the kid that he made some comps between Drake Maye and those great ones.

But rivalries don’t fade easily for those so closely attached to them. Even if the draft was a night of celebration regardless of Maye’s destination, Christensen would be lying if he didn’t concede there was some hesitation about watching his latest understudy get taken by the Patriots with the No. 3 pick, his new student headed to his longest rival.

“There were probably 31 other teams I would’ve rather he had gone to,” Christensen said, laughing.

It’s already been weird over these past 12 games (seven with Maye starting) for Christensen to turn on the TV and want the Patriots to be doing well. But now Sunday presents the most awkward of those rooting encounters as the Patriots host the Colts. In a league where business can be ruthless and loyalties diminish as so many bounce from team to team, Christensen is still all about the Colts. He was with them for 14 years. He remains in touch with owner Jim Irsay. The 2006 Super Bowl team still has an active group chat going. Manning often gets the group going.

“He’s the great stirrer of the pot of the group chat,” Christensen said.

So, yeah, after all those years with the Colts — seven as wide receivers coach, four as quarterbacks coach and three as offensive coordinator — it’s still a bit tough for Christensen to force himself into wanting success for the Patriots.

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