Draft question: Pick Maye or Daniels at No. 2?
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The scenes on both campuses were similar: packed fieldhouses, beeping stopwatches and booming speakers. NFL executives milled through the crowds, talking to agents, coaches and team staffers, mining for information on the top prospects who could change the trajectories of their careers.
They were here for the small moments. They’d already seen the talent over hours of film study, and they probably weren’t going to be surprised by the athletic performances, because pro days are just on-campus reruns of the NFL scouting combine drills. But this was a window into the players as people, leaders and communicators.
Last week, in a whirlwind, teams scouting the top quarterbacks in the upcoming NFL draft flew from the league’s annual meetings in Orlando to Baton Rouge, to see LSU’s Jayden Daniels, and then to Chapel Hill, to see North Carolina’s Drake Maye. Since the No. 1 pick appears to be a foregone conclusion — Southern Cal’s Caleb Williams — the Washington Commanders’ choice at No. 2 has become the most important domino to fall for teams early in the draft, and Daniels and Maye are seemingly vying for the spot.
Several people around the league said they believe the Commanders will select Daniels, but given how tight-lipped the team has been, it’s difficult to parse whether those people are making astute observations or repeating a rumor.
“I don’t think anyone in here knows exactly what Washington is going to do,” New England Patriots Coach Jerod Mayo said at the league meetings last week.
Commanders general manager Adam Peters, assistant GM Lance
Newmark, coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury led Washington’s scouting team at the pro days. They spent most of their time talking with those who know the quarterbacks best, including their coaches and support staff, and they met with both players. In interviews, the quarterbacks were vague about those conversations.
“I have a whole bunch of teams [to talk to], so I’m not going to [put] too much information out there,” Maye said.
The pro days started with measurements, which were important for Daniels. He’d opted out of all measurements and testing at the combine, saying he wanted to wait for the pro day so he could get his teammates more exposure. Some skeptical scouts suspected he wanted more time to put on weight; even though he’s a game-changing runner, many worry his thin frame won’t hold up over time, given his reckless running style and repeated exposure to big hits.
In Baton Rouge, Daniels measured 6-foot-3⅝ and 210 pounds. Over the past two decades, only three quarterbacks drafted in the first round have been roughly as tall and light: Teddy Bridgewater, Alex Smith and Robert Griffin III.
Now, teams must ask themselves: Does Daniels need to gain weight? If so, can he remain a dynamic runner? And regardless, can he better protect himself? LSU coach Brian Kelly said the No. 1 question he’s gotten from teams has been, “Will he slide?”
“What
I say to them is, ‘Look, you have a guy who’s incredibly tough and competitive,’” Kelly said. He pointed out that Daniels was hit in the Alabama game and set an NCAA record when he returned the next week, becoming the first player in FBS history to throw for at least 350 yards and rush for at least 200 in the same game.
Meanwhile, in Chapel Hill, Maye confirmed his prototypical size: 6-foot-4⅛ and 227 pounds.
During non-throwing drills, Daniels and Maye wore sweats and watched. Daniels paid only loose attention to most teammates except star receiver Malik Nabers. Daniels locked in on his every rep, delivering a steady stream of motivation, and after Nabers ran a blazing 40-yard dash, Daniels sprinted the length of the field to celebrate with him.
In Chapel Hill, Maye was more even. He watched nearly every teammate closely and offered subtle encouragement in fist bumps and pats on the back.
Then the quarterbacks started warming up. Daniels changed into a purple hoodie with the No. 3 in honor of LSU safety Greg Brooks Jr., who’s battling a rare form of brain cancer. He grabbed a basketball and started practicing his jump shot, emulating the unique, cross-sport pregame routine of Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Generally, GMs don’t put a lot of stock into pro-day throwing sessions. Carefully choreographed throws mean far less than the hundreds of live attempts against real defenses. Quinn, who came up as a defensive coach, said he’s recently learned from Peters and Kingsbury that it isn’t even enough to just study throws from the college tape.
“With the quarterback, you really have to watch every single play,” Quinn said. “Did he get them out of a bad play here in the run game? Did he [audible a route] outside? … Sometimes, a throwaway was the best decision right here. It wouldn’t show that on the stat sheet, but that was actually a really good decision.”
But the throwing session still seemed important. The Commanders gathered right behind each quarterback; Quinn put on his glasses. In Chapel Hill, he and Peters stood in a powerful line with Mayo and Eliot Wolf, the de facto GM of the Patriots, who hold the No. 3 pick.
The quarterbacks ran through scripts of 50 to 70 throws. They called most of their own plays in the huddles, though occasionally their private coaches issued instructions. Daniels looked loose; Maye seemed more on edge. Maye airmailed a couple out-breaking routes near the sideline and was visibly frustrated, slapping his thigh. He redid those throws immediately for completions.
One of the biggest questions about Maye is his footwork. It sometimes hurts his accuracy and leads him to miss short and intermediate throws. Some analysts, such as ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky, believe it’s bad enough that Maye should sit his rookie year. But others believe it can be corrected more quickly.
UNC offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey, who arrived for Maye’s final season, blamed some of the inconsistencies on his system. He said he changed Maye’s footwork out of shotgun from a backpedal to a “more traditional” threestep drop.
“He could have been a guy that [said], ‘Hey, I’ve already had success doing things the way I’ve been doing it, and I don’t really I don’t really want to change that,’ “Lindsey said. “He wasn’t that way at all. I’m telling you, the best thing about him is the off-the-field stuff, the intangibles.”
During the session, both passers showcased their mobility. They dodged mock pass-rushers, moved around and reset their feet or threw on the run. Once, Daniels rolled to his right and threw an incredible corner route about 45 yards away on the sideline. Other times, Maye showcased his elite arm strength with 60-yard bombs that hit receivers in stride.
Afterward, Daniels was confident.
“The main thing was to try to show my consistency within the pocket, my footwork moving off platform, [staying] in rhythm, progressions coming back to a third read,” he said. “Just moving around and making sure I get my feet back under me. And the other stuff was kind of just fun.”
Maye was confident, too. He believed he’d proved himself “a big dude that can move,” not a statuesque pocket passer. But he was also fiery about his overthrows.
“Just competitive, man,” he said. “Anytime you miss something, shoot, [you’re] just mad. Not mad, but just frustrated. I mean, I’ve made that [out-breaking] throw a million times. I want to get it back and show them … [I’m] able to bounce back from misses. I missed a few that I thought were pretty easy.”
Both quarterbacks complimented the Commanders’ new regime. They name-checked Peters, Quinn and Kingsbury. But they were vague, knowing the pre-draft circuit wasn’t quite finished.
For most top executives, these pro days were the end of a long two months on the road that included all-star games, the combine and other workouts. Afterward, they returned to their team facilities, and they’ll host prospects on “top-30” visits before the first round of the draft on April 25. They’ll see the quarterbacks again and inch closer toward finalizing decisions that could reverberate in their franchises for years to come.