2024-04-01 21:05:32
The New England Patriots are in a weird spot in the 2024 NFL Draft, ready to take a quarterback with the No. 3 pick in a year when quarterbacks will probably go with the first three picks. That leaves them unable to definitively make their preference known between the two most likely options for them: North Carolina’s Drake Maye and Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels of LSU.
In all likelihood, the Patriots will sit comfortably and take whichever of those two falls to them with the third pick.
But the road to this point has been vastly different for Maye and Daniels, and what they offer their next team (and, importantly, what they don’t) is also quite different. So with the draft quickly approaching, let’s break down the strengths and weaknesses of each quarterback and examine how he would fit in New England.
We’ll break down Daniels later this week, so Maye is up first.
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Strengths
Maye looks the part. Let’s start with that. He has everything you’d want in a modern quarterback. Arm strength? Check. Mobility? Check. Size? Check. Pocket presence? Check.
He was a four-star recruit out of Charlotte, N.C., and initially committed to Alabama before Bryce Young’s commitment there resulted in Maye’s changing course to stay close to home. He also had a good relationship with North Carolina coach Mack Brown stemming from his family’s long relationship with him. Maye’s dad, Mark, played quarterback at UNC (then had a brief NFL stint) before joining Brown’s staff as a graduate assistant in the late 1980s. That’s where Mark met his wife, Aimee, who had been an all-state high school basketball player from Charlotte. (More on the athletic family they raised later.)
Maye redshirted his freshman year in Chapel Hill while Sam Howell, who became a good friend, was the starting quarterback. Maye then took over as a redshirt freshman in 2022. What followed was an incredible season as Maye totaled 4,321 passing yards in 14 games to go with 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Drake Maye is projected to be selected within the first three picks of the 2024 NFL Draft. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
That season set massive expectations and put Maye in the discussion to be drafted with the No. 1 pick in 2024 before he played a single game as a sophomore.
Maye’s numbers dropped in 2023 with less talent around him, but the high-level traits remained. His arm strength was evident as a freshman, but in 2023, he built on his mobility and became adept at throwing on the run.
This is where Maye can really hurt opposing defenses. He’s excellent on designed bootlegs, which Kevin Stefanski, new Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt’s former boss with the Cleveland Browns, loves. It’s easy to envision Van Pelt designing a wide zone rushing game with Maye rolling out on play actions off it.
Maye can use his legs on more than just designed rollouts, though; it’s an underrated part of his game. He had 56 rushes of 10 or more yards in the last two seasons, the second most in Division I (behind only Daniels).
Maye also shows football smarts in knowing when to run, saving those plays for important moments. He accounted for 42 first downs while running the ball on third or fourth down in the past two seasons.
Still, his arm and size are his top attributes. He’s 6 feet 4, 223 pounds and has the strength to make any throw on the field with above-average velocity.
It’s also worth noting his family’s athleticism. Maye is the youngest of four boys, all of whom played Division I sports (two played basketball at UNC, and another was a baseball pitcher at the University of Florida).
Plus, Maye is still just 21, the second youngest of the top quarterbacks in this draft (J.J. McCarthy is five months younger).
Weaknesses
The most obvious place to start is the dip in Maye’s stats last season and the inexplicably bad plays he occasionally made. North Carolina switched offenses before the 2023 season, opting for a more balanced approach rather than the Air Raid roots of Maye’s freshman season. Maye also lost his two best wide receivers (who combined for 181 targets Maye’s freshman year), and his offensive line got worse.
Instead of trying to manage within that (less advantageous) system and setup, Maye often tried to play superhero, forcing throws and making ill-advised decisions. Similar to Josh Allen coming out of college, Maye had multiple plays last season when he should’ve either thrown the ball away or taken a sack instead of trying to pull off a miracle.
Perhaps a veteran assistant like Van Pelt can coach that out of him, but it’s a problem worth noting.
Maye’s arm strength is also generally a strength, but there are times when he’ll miss easy underneath throws because he’s delivering an all-out fastball even when it’s not necessary.
The other odd stat that could be the result of a small sample size or something more concerning is the way Maye seemed to struggle against the halftime adjustments made by opponents. In the first half of his college games, Maye had a 39-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio. That ratio dropped to 24-to-12 in the second half of games. Of the top six quarterbacks in this draft class, Maye threw the fewest second-half touchdowns and the most second-half interceptions in 2023. Maybe that was because of coaching points he received or because he felt he had to force plays with a good but not great North Carolina team. Either way, it feels worth mentioning.
Finally, and this could also just be a small sample size, but two of Maye’s worst collegiate games were his final two. With UNC at 8-2 and ranked in the top 25, Maye struggled in disappointing losses to Clemson (16-of-36 passing for 209 yards, one touchdown and an interception) and NC State (22-of-38 passing for 254 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions) to close the 2023 season. Perhaps it was the lack of talent around him or because he had one eye on the draft, but either way, it’s not ideal that his two most recent games were among his worst.
Verdict
It’s easy to envision Maye fitting in with just about any offense given his size, arm strength and mobility. He’s what a modern quarterback should look like. There are areas he needs to work on, including playing within structure and avoiding catastrophic plays that result from reckless decisions. But even at his age, he could be a day-one starter for the Patriots. Van Pelt could design a balanced offense with zone rushes and play-action passes that get Maye on the move and take advantage of his ability to scramble and throw on the run. Then, if Maye continues to develop, the offense could be designed more and more around his arm.
(Photo: Jevone Moore / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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