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The New England Patriots selected quarterback Drake Maye with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Here's what you need to know about his Fantasy stock in both season-long and Dynasty formats. 

Maye's Fantasy fit with the Patriots

Maye's arm strength, size, anticipatory throwing and athleticism make him a good fit for New England's West Coast system. Alex Van Pelt has a ton of experience working with big, physical quarterbacks and he'll spearhead the charge of helping Maye improve his game, including his footwork. New England is under minimal pressure to play Maye right away, so he could spend the first quarter or half of the 2024 season watching Jacoby Brissett start. Training camp will go a long way in determining that, but no one should expect Maye to work miracles with an underwhelming receiving corps in 2024. He shouldn't get drafted in redraft leagues unless it's SuperFlex/two-QB, in which case he'll probably get taken after at least 24 other quarterbacks are snagged.

Dynasty Outlook

Maye figures to have at least a solid career as a capable starter. Though he's not a dual-threat quarterback to the same degree as Jayden Daniels, he proved at North Carolina that he can use his legs, particularly in the red zone. And though he had some significant concerns in his mechanics, he generally did a nice job connecting with his receivers. He feels like the kind of quarterback who needs stability in order to reach his potential, and I just don't know if the Patriots will offer him that if the team doesn't improve by the end of 2025. Drafting Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and even J.J. McCarthy ahead of Maye feels safe in all rookie-only drafts; he'll slot in after them as a potential mid-to-late first-round pick in SuperFlex/two-QB, and as a second-round selection in one-QB.

Drake Maye: What to know

While the Carolina Panthers were preparing for their first season in the NFC South, Drake Lee Maye was born in Charlotte. The son of former North Carolina quarterback Mark Maye and younger brother of former North Carolina basketball player Luke Maye, Drake Maye began playing tackle football while in the first grade. While he enjoyed playing pretty much every other sport out there (he played basketball and baseball in high school), football was the game he fell in love with.

Maye lost three games in two seasons with the Mustangs with two losses coming in the 4AA state playoffs (one semi-finals loss, one quarter-finals loss). He threw 86 touchdowns and just seven interceptions in his sophomore and junior years at Myers Park High School (Covid-19 canceled his senior year). Maye was the Charlotte Observer's Male Athlete of the Year and participated in both the Under Armor All-American Game and in the Elite 11 QB camp.

A 247Sports four-star composite prospect, Maye originally committed to Alabama but flipped to North Carolina to be closer to home.

Age as of Week 1: 22 | Height: 6-foot-4 1/4 | Weight: 223 | Hand: 9 1/8 

Comparable body-type to: Alex Smith

We're breaking down everything you need to know about Maye from a Fantasy manager perspective, including a scouting report, key stats and an NFL comparison.

Scouting report

Strengths

  • Unquestionably appealing size with ideal height, strong legs and a wide chest. Perhaps the best-built quarterback in the entire class.
  • Had a cool pocket presence most of the time, poised and unafraid of pass rush pressure. Did not often leave a pocket too early or freak out because defenders got near him. This was an area of improvement from 2022.
  • Consistently made full-field reads and properly scanned through his progressions before making good decisions on who to throw to. Minimal issues, if any, regarding Maye missing wide open targets, locking on to a target or holding the ball too long. Was patient while going through his reads and was good at freezing safeties by staring them down or pump-faking.
  • Perhaps the best prospect in the class at making quality anticipatory throws into zone coverage. Timing with his receivers was usually good.
  • Maye also was not afraid to throw into a tight window, something other QBs in the class struggled with.

An example of Maye processing coverage, instantaneously recognizing his best target and then firing with a quick, accurate pass into a tight window: 

  • Arm strength is good and attempted a slew of deep throws over his college career. 
  • Made every throw you could ask for including far-sideline completions. Favorite routes to throw were hitches and outs.
  • Knew when to throw the ball away or run instead of make a dangerous throw into tight coverage. Also would throw the ball out of bounds when pressured and nothing was open downfield. He didn't force things. 
  • Good mobility in the pocket to avoid pressure and keep plays alive. 
  • Smooth, unafraid runner with very good scramble skills. Knew which angles to take when on the move. Was much more adept at taking care of himself and not taking excessive hits compared to others in the class.
  • Ran a version of the Air Raid offense at North Carolina, but successfully executed RPO and zone-read concepts. Feels likely he could adapt to any offense at the pro level. 
  • Not much in the way of reported injuries: Suffered an ankle injury in his last college game last November. Before that he played through a sore ankle in the early/middle part of 2023.

Concerns

  • Maye's footwork needs some help. His dropbacks weren't always down the mid-line and his feet were often noticeably wider than his shoulders. He also does this awkward semi-shuffle when he could either stand in the pocket or step up into it. His timing would be off at times because his feet weren't in sync with the play design. All of this led to some inaccurate throws -- even after Maye admitted to the media before the 2023 season that he had tried to improve his footwork. Maye needs a little time to make his footwork more consistent.
  • Maye's release also needs help. He seemed to have an elongated throwing motion when not pressured (and sometimes even when he was pressured). It didn't sting him that much in college because he had wider windows to throw into, but in the pros those same windows close a lot faster and lead to more incompletions, if not interceptions.
  • Further, any time Maye's release was sped up -- be it because of pressure or because he was excited to hit an open target -- his accuracy and ball placement were inconsistent. Some good, some bad. It feels like a throwing mechanics issue more than a discomfort issue, but if it's not improved then opponents will blitz the snot out of him each week. Coaches will have to at least consider possible fixes.
  • Making matters worse was an inconsistency when dealing with pass rush pressure. While he never looked scared or panicked because defenders got close to him, Maye had several bouts with not knowing where pressure was coming from pre-snap and not adjusting to it post-snap. I'd say he kept his eyes downfield most of the time when he was pressured but not all of the time. He'll need a few lessons from his coaches (with coordination from his center) on figuring out where the blitzes come from.
  • Maye is athletic, but he's not a quick-twitch athlete. For instance, when he scans from one side of the field to another his hips don't snap around as quickly as other quarterbacks (this is something Brock Purdy got better at and it helped his game). Maye also doesn't have the quick-twitch agility to juke defenders consistently when he's on the run. The former has a shot to be improved upon, the latter is just who he is as a runner.

Stats breakdown


GCmp%PaYdsYds/AttPaTDPaINTRuAttRuYdsRuAvgRuTD
20231263.3%36088.52491124494.09
Career v Top-25355.5%7476.87233792.41
Career3064.9%80188.4631630212094.016

Advanced stats to know

  • In his two seasons as a starter, Maye threw 10.8% of his targets to running backs, 59.1% to wide receivers and 22% to tight ends. Air Raid offenses don't always employ tight ends but North Carolina's did.
  • Led a couple of game-winning drives on his final series in overtime in 2023 but otherwise did not win a single game on his final drive in regulation in 2022 or 2023. He did have multiple fourth-quarter comeback wins, just not on the final drive. Of his 17 wins as the team's primary QB, nine were by more than one score. Of his nine losses as a starter, five were by one score with four failed final-drive comeback attempts (and one missed field goal after Maye put them in position to tie).
  • Among the "big five" prospects in this year's draft (Maye, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix), Maye was just behind Penix in off-target rate (14.1%) and rate of throws of 20-plus Air Yards (20%), and last in completion rate (63.3%), yards per attempt (8.5) and TD rate (5.65%). He had the highest interception rate (2.1%), but also the second-highest Average Depth of Target (10.1 yards, just behind Daniels).
  • The only metric Maye led the "big five" in was pass attempts of 15-plus Air Yards (31.3%). He was also blitzed the most (30.8% of his dropbacks).
  • When pressured over 149 dropbacks last year, Maye attempted 90 passes, and completed 43.3% of them with a 13.3% off-target rate for 6.7 yards per attempt on a 10.4 ADOT. His TD rate was 7.78%. Of the per-pass metrics, Maye ranked second-best among the "big five" only in off-target rate; everything else was either lowest or second-lowest.
  • When pressured and throwing short (under 4 Air Yards), Maye had a stunningly low 31.8% completion rate, worst among the "big five."
  • What about when he wasn't pressured and threw deep (15-plus Air Yards)? In that scenario Maye hit 50.5% of his throws, lowest among the "big five," and outside of the top-20 among qualifiers (at least 200 pass attempts) in the FBS. This was startling.
  • Maye had 13 throws in 2023 and 17 in 2022 of 40-plus Air Yards. Of the 30 such attempts, just one got to 50 yards, so there is a limitation but not one considered to be detrimental. Maye completed 10 of 30 mega-deep passes for 510 yards, three touchdowns with one interception
  • What about quick throws? When getting the ball out in 2.5 seconds or less, Maye completed 68.3% of his passes for 6.5 yards per attempt, a 6.6 ADOT, a 5.35% TD rate and a 1.23% INT rate. Aside from the ADOT and INT rate, all of those numbers were the lowest or second-lowest among the "big five." When getting the ball out in 2.51 seconds or more, Maye hit 56.6% of his throws for 11.2 yards per attempt, a 14.8 ADOT, a 6.04% TD rate and a 3.3% INT rate. All of these numbers were middle of the pack except the TD and INT rates which were among the worst for the "big five."
  • In the red zone, Maye completed 48.1% of his throws with an 18.52% TD rate and a stunning 20.4% off-target rate -- all worst among the "big five." Maye was better in 2022, completing 55.2% of his throws with a 22.86% TD rate, but still had a 14.3% off-target rate.
  • Had 255 yards on 37 attempts on easy throws -- quick outs, WR screens, backfield outs and shovel passes. This is a good thing since it means Maye didn't pad his stats with a lot of weak throws.
  • 31 snaps from under center in 2023 (30th most in the nation; third among the "big five").
  • Excluding sacks, Maye had 103 carries for 507 yards (4.9 yards per carry) and nine touchdowns on the ground (one fewer than Jayden Daniels). He was almost as impressive in 2022 on 171 carries, 753 yards and seven touchdowns. In the two years combined he had an avoided tackle rare of 17.2%, way lower than Daniels, Williams and even McCarthy.
  • Over his college career, Maye scored on 12 of 37 rush attempts inside the 10, 12 of 21 rush attempts inside the 5, and 6 of 11 rush attempts at the one-yard line.

NFL Comparison

Any comparisons to Josh Allen or Justin Herbert are pie-in-the-sky. Could Maye get there? Perhaps. But Herbert was a more polished passer as a prospect and Allen was and is bigger and stronger. I think Alex Smith is much closer to who Maye is, especially if we compare them as prospects. Smith worked well in a spread-concept offense, read defenses well, was mobile, didn't rock the boat with aggressive throws and had a strong arm but not a cannon. Smith was probably a little more accurate but Maye could match or be better there in time. Smith also had a nice, long NFL career, which Maye should have as well -- and potentially be more productive than Smith was.