2024 Scouting Report - QB Drake Maye, UNC
Initial paragraphs were written pre-draft, and the section at the bottom was written after the pre-season had ended.
I am unmotivated by Drake Maye, an all-around boring QB and prospect and I don’t get the Justin Herbert comps at all. Herbert is infinitely better and was when he was coming out. Is Maye the worst prospect of the main guys? Potentially. Maye has a higher floor than Williams but he also doesn’t have the same ceiling that Williams could reach. Not a great feeling to have about a potential top 3 overall pick.
I can understand why NFL teams like Maye, you get what you see in him, and what you see is ‘not bad’, which makes him the perfect fit for a defensive-minded head coach like Jerod Mayo and the Patriots. A quarterback that won’t win you games but also won’t lose you games. From a GM standpoint, it’s also a safe pick, he won’t be a blotch on your resume like Winston or Bryce Young, it’ll just be brushed aside.
Since I am so aloof on Maye, I wouldn’t draft him as a first-rounder, I want that pick to inspire me and make me excited to create plays around them. I get that with Penix, Daniels, and even Williams to a degree, but not Drake Maye.
- Comparing Maye to his most popular NFL comparison, Justin Herbert…
Maye is big at 6’3 220 lbs., but Herbert is bigger. Maye can run if needed, but Herbert is better and more mobile inside the pocket. Maye has a league-average arm if not a touch better. Herbert has one of the best arms in the league. I would rather compare him to the likes of Kenny Pickett or Daniel Jones than Justin Herbert. A Daniel Jones that can’t run as well, for whatever that’s worth.
- When you draft Maye you also get a nice professional personality, 2022 ACC Player of the Year (not 2023). In that season Maye started 9-1 with 34TDs and 3 INTs, but in the last 4 games of 2022 and all of 2023, Maye was 8-8 with 28 TDs and 13 INTs.
Against the tough opponents (Clemson, NC State, Duke) Maye went 2-4 with 8 TDs and 7 INTs.
- The numbers don’t inspire me nor should they inspire an NFL coach. Exactly what Jerod Mayo would like — something he doesn’t have to think about and allows him to focus not on winning, but on not losing. The defensive way.
Prospect Grade: C
=====================================
Post Pre-season thoughts:
Well, this was by far my most accurate report. Maye has continued to be a boring quarterback in the preseason, with some decent plays but mostly nothing exciting going on. Maye is going to game-manage the Patriots to maybe 2 or 3 wins whenever he becomes the starter over Jacoby Brissett. The Patriots tried to get away from Mac Jones and drafted Mac Jones, the same number and everything. This year, regardless of outcome, will be viewed as growing pains for him and he’ll likely be able to play out his entire rookie deal as a starter while the fans slowly turn on him.
Having my third overall pick compete and lose the starting role to Jacoby Brissett (who played quite well in relief last season… I’d like to add) while other rookies like Nix, McCarthy pre-injury, Daniels are all unquestionably the starters… not a good look for the New England front office.
