Former NFL QB believes Drake Maye could possess similar stuff as Josh Allen, Joe Burrow
"I think he has the chance to be an unbelievable star."
Drake Maye is just one of several rookie QBs who have impressed so far this season.
While Maye has sparked optimism with his play under center in Foxborough, other 2024 QBs like Caleb Williams (No. 1, Bears), Jayden Daniels (No. 2, Commanders), and Bo Nix (No. 12, Broncos) have showcased plenty of potential.
Two other first-round QBs in Michael Penix Jr. (No. 8, Falcons) and J.J. McCarthy (No. 10, Vikings) are also highly regarded — but have yet to play this season due to injury or their spot on the depth chart (Kirk Cousins in Atlanta).
The early returns have been promising from this 2024 class of signal-callers. But former NFL QB and current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky thinks that Maye might have the highest ceiling of the group — even comparing him to some of the top quarterbacks in the NFL right now.
“Projecting who I think will be the best going forward — I think Drake Maye has the chance to be the most jaw-dropping, kind of the stuff we saw from Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford this past Sunday type of stuff. The stuff we’ve seen from Joe Burrow,” Orlovsky said Tuesday on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“A little bit of that is gonna be dependent on what they do around him. I was the person who said Drake Maye shouldn’t play meaningful games this year because that offensive line is not good. I was very cautious of them putting him out there when they did.”
Even though New England sits near the bottom of the AFC with a 3-10 record, Maye has been one of the few positives drawn out of a rebuilding year.
In nine games so far this season, Maye has completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 1,696 passing yards, 11 touchdowns, and eight interceptions while also rushing for 345 yards off of 38 carries (9.1 yards per attempt).
New England’s laboring offense has received a shot in the arm with Maye leading the charge.
But Orlovsky believes that Maye’s growing knowledge of the Patriots’ offense and his ability to make reads at football’s highest level stands as the most encouraging sign of his growth this season.
“He’s been unbelievable,” Orlovsky said. “I think the stuff I’ve been floored with is a lot of things that were unknowns of his game in North Carolina, the ways he would get through progressions, or could he work the middle of the field a ton, reading full-read throws, meaning starting from the right and going to the left. He didn’t do that at UNC, it was so RPO-centric, so we didn’t know (if he could do it).
“And then the mechanics have gotten so much cleaner, and just making different types of throws. Driving it, floating it, sometimes pinning it on a guy’s back shoulder. He didn’t do that a ton at UNC. I think he has the chance to be an unbelievable star.”
Maye and the Patriots will look to get back in the win column on Sunday when they take on the Cardinals in Arizona.
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