Drake Maye: What the film and
NC product has tools to succeed
The Herald is breaking down the top quarterbacks ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft running April 25-27.
The Patriots hold the third overall pick and, barring a trade down or an unforeseen selection, are widely expected to take a QB in the first round. After breaking down LSU senior and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels on Monday,
North Carolina’s Drake Maye, a projected top-3 pick, is up next.
Pick a playbook. Or an offense. Or even an era.
No matter your preference or period of football history, Drake Maye fits. He is a timeless prospect.
The redshirt sophomore stands a sturdy 6-foot-4 and 223 pounds. He can make every throw both in and out of structure. He’s accurate, decisive and tough, checking all of the traditional boxes and modern musthaves, including playmaking and mobility.
Maye is cut from the same prototypical cloth as Justin Herbert and Josh Allen, former top-10 picks who carried rare physical gifts and questions about their consistency as prospects. The chief question with Maye, whose 2022 tape out-shone last year’s film, is twofold: how much of his drop-off can be attributed to a weaker supporting cast and how much did that supporting cast inspire him to overcompensate with more dangerous play?
The 21-year-old is dripping with potential. Maye’s arm talent matches or exceeds every other prospect in this year’s class. He plays on time and carves up the middle of the field, a strong indicator of pro success.
He varies speeds, ripping throws with straight-line velocity and lofting higharching touch passes when necessary.
Maye also create gains from nothing. He scrambles well and can duck away from pressure before slinging completions from various arm angles to all distances. Though his ability to conjure completions some passers never dream of cuts both ways. Maye will often eschew the sure thing for the spectacular, and incur greater risk of turnovers and sacks.
Maye must trim his pressure-to-sack rate, and nail more easy throws underneath. Overshoot too many layups, and your coaches come calling. Nay, screaming. But generally, Maye elevated his offense, game after game, and in both seasons, with this rare tools and playmaking. NFL evaluators must now decide whether Maye chases the dreams too often instead of settling for a checkdown reality. And can his ball placement and footwork be tightened up? Most of Maye’s interceptions in college were earned, yet his turnover-worthy play percentage actually dipped from 2022 to last year, per Pro Football Focus; meaning while the temptation to play hero ball increased, the damage Maye inflicted with interceptions and fumbles went down.
Increasingly, the quarterback position is becoming less classical musician and more classically trained jazz performer. The best play with a disciplined creativity, knowing when to wield their improvisational genius and when to resist their inner muse and simply play the notes in front of them. Quarterbacks without such tools, daring and creativity are hard-capped in the modern game, shut out from forever joining the NFL’s elites.
But Maye, as Patriots coach Jerod Mayo declared last month, has no ceiling. Yet his floor nonetheless remains a concern, particularly if his next team can’t support him right away or teach him when to ignore his muse.
After viewing all of Maye’s throws and runs from the 2023 season, let’s dive deeper into his potential as a franchise quarterback with the help of two