Patriots

5 things to know about new Patriots quarterback Drake Maye

Drake Maye has drawn comparisons to Josh Allen and Justin Herbert.

By Conor Ryan

April 25, 2024

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The Drake Maye era has arrived in Foxborough.

After months of speculation, the Patriots used the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to select the 21-year-old quarterback out of North Carolina. 

Maye has earned high marks from NFL scouts over the last two years — with his elite arm strength, pro-ready frame (6-foot-4, 230 pounds), and athleticism painting the picture of a prospect who could become a franchise fixture at QB with New England.

Here are five things to know about the Patriots’ new quarterback.

He’s been compared to Josh Allen and Justin Herbert.

He may not have the dual-threat capabilities of Jayden Daniels or the processing speed of Caleb Williams, but Maye is still regarded as a coveted, blue-chip prospect thanks to his howitzer of an arm and underrated ability to gain yardage on the ground.

Maye’s knack for connecting on deep passes or escaping pressure with his legs prompted Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer to compare him to one of the best signal-callers in the league. 

I found a comp that I like on Drake Maye. He is Josh Allen, just a step down in just about every category,” Breer said on NBC Sports Boston earlier this month. “And I think that physically maybe puts him closer to the ballpark of where Joe Burrow is. But he’s got Josh Allen play-making traits, he has pop in his arm. He’s a really, really, really good athlete. There’s a lot to work with there.

ESPN’s Matt Miller compared Maye to another top QB in the league due to his arm strength and ability to execute under pressure. 

“Considering he had only 26 starts in college, we could see Maye sit early in his career — but NFL scouts have already compared his ability to [Justin] Herbert and Josh Allen,” Miller said in March. 

Maye’s size and arm talent are evident on just about all of his game tape, with the 21-year-old capable of both hitting receivers in tight windows and completing deep passes down the sideline — both in the pocket and while on the move. 

But much like Allen, Maye can also carve up defenses if he’s forced out of the pocket and asked to carry the ball. 

Over the last two seasons, Maye reeled off 56 rushes of 10 or more yards, which stood as the second most in Division I behind only Daniels. 

He had an up-and-down tenure at UNC.

Maye stuffed the stat sheet during his collegiate career at Chapel Hill, with the former Alabama commit throwing for 63 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, 8,018 passing yards, and a 64.9% completion percentage over 30 games (26 starts) at UNC. 

But the young quarterback did see his numbers fluctuate at times during his two full seasons as the Tar Heels’ starter. 

Maye established himself as a premier NFL prospect during the 2022 season, winning ACC Player of the Year honors after throwing for 4,321 yards, completing 66.2% of his passes, and finishing the year with 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also gained 698 yards on the ground with seven rushing touchdowns. 

The 2023 season wasn’t as productive for Maye, especially with UNC’s roster losing several key contributors on offense. Maye finished the year completing 63.3% of his passes for 3,608 yards, 24 touchdowns, and nine interceptions while rushing for 449 yards and nine touchdowns. 

Even though Maye wasn’t able to build off of his breakout 2022 campaign, Breer stressed that Maye’s collegiate career followed a similar trajectory as Allen — who was often forced to do too much during his time in Wyoming. 

“You look at the trajectory in college. Wyoming sort of peaked [in Allen’s] second-to-last year there,” Breer said. “He came back, the offense changed his last year at Wyoming, he lost a lot of teammates to the NFL. And he didn’t look as good. There was more on him, and so he was running around like a chicken with its head cut off a bunch. That’s sort of what happened with Drake Maye his last year at UNC.  

“From talking to coaches who have started to call down there, and have started to look at the film, and then talking to the scouts who look at this stuff year-round, the first thing almost all of them say is how dreadful things were in North Carolina last year. The scheme was a mess because they lost the offensive coordinator the year before to Wisconsin. The personnel around him wasn’t very good. Their top receiver was a guy whose status was in limbo half the year.”

He might need some time to develop in the NFL.

Even though Maye’s throwing ability separates him from several other quarterbacks in his draft class, he may not be a Day 1 starter in the NFL ranks.

“He does need some time, and there will be growing pains, but you take him because he has the most upside of everybody,” one high-ranking NFL staffer told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler last week. “There’s a major ability there. I worry that if you take him and you don’t have a supporting cast and a good offensive line or receivers and he has to play right away, he will struggle early.”

Some of the faults in Maye’s game currently lie in his mechanics and decision-making — with lapses in his footwork occasionally leading to sailed passes or short-yardage throws delivered with too much force. 

Considering Maye’s age, New England’s largely lackluster supporting cast on offense, and the additional development time that Maye might need, the Patriots could opt to essentially “redshirt” Maye to start the 2024 season — especially with veteran QB Jacoby Brissett in place on the roster. 

“If New England wants to take Drake Maye at [third overall], they better have a free agent [quarterback] already signed,” ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky told Rich Eisen in an interview in early March before New England signed Brissett. “Drake Maye has to be on the Jordan Love-type of timeline. Drake Maye has to sit.”

“If you go into the NFL and, mechanically, your feet are sloppy — and you don’t fix it — you’re going to struggle,” Orlovsky continued. “You might get away with it here and there, but you’re going to struggle. I’ve watched Josh Allen fix it, I’ve watched Patrick Mahomes do it, I’ve watched Lamar Jackson do it. They all have to.”

He comes from an athletic family .

The Maye family tree has no shortage of proven athletes. 

Maye’s father, Mark, played quarterback at UNC from 1984-87 before a brief stint with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Drake Maye is the youngest of four brothers, with Luke and Beau Maye playing basketball with the Tar Heels. 

In his career, Luke Maye earned two All-ACC honors (first team in 2017-18 and second team in 2018-19) with the Tar Heels. Luke’s top moment at UNC came during the 2017 NCAA tournament, with Maye hitting a game-winning basket over Kentucky to punch his team’s ticket to the Final Four. UNC went on to win its sixth national title during that tournament run. 

“[Drake] was always an athlete,” Luke Maye said of his younger brother during an interview with Sporting News in 2022. “He was always a person who dominated his age group, and he played up quite a bit. We definitely toughened him up a bit, but I’m just so proud of him. I just love him to death.”

Another one of Maye’s brothers, Cole, was a pitcher on the Florida Gators baseball team that won the 2017 College World Series. 

He’s a pretty good basketball player.

Maye might fit the profile of a franchise quarterback, but he also could have followed his brothers’ lead and pursued a career on the hardwood instead of the gridiron. 

During Maye’s junior season at Myers Park High School, Maye averaged 16.1 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. 

“I love playing basketball. Basketball was my favorite sport until football got started in high school,” Drake Maye said in an interview with The Charlotte Observer. “Big schools gave me the opportunity to play (football) there. I feel like basketball could’ve gotten there, but it would’ve taken longer. The opportunities are too good in football. I started falling in love with playing quarterback, and I want to take it as far as I can.”