A Patriots Fan's Draft Wish List: Drake Maye
David Beach. Shutterstock Images.Author's Note: For as long as I care to remember, I've been doing Patriots Draft Previews by position. Grouping the prospects according to where they're expected to go in the first few rounds, as well as sleepers in the middle and late rounds whom I thought fit the Patriots system.
And doing this served me well. As I've said in past years, I'll put my record of hits up against anyone in the business. From 1st rounders like Dont'a Hightower, Dominique Easley and Mac Jones, to Day 2 picks like Brandon Spikes, Duke Dawson and Joejuan Williams to a whole host of weekend picks. For probably a decade and a half, The Belichick Whisperer [tm] dominated the Patriots Draft Pundit Industrial Complex and took a back seat to no one.
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That said, I'm changing up my approach this year for several reasons. The first being that I can't presume to be an Eliot Wolf Whisperer or even a Low Talker. It took years of careful study to figure out what Belichick valued in his draft picks. (And in many of those previously cited examples, to be as dead wrong as he was.) It required me to get inside his head and understand the man in ways I've never bothered to understand my loved ones or closest friends. It may take me even longer to get a handle on the new regime. So I refuse to obey your trust by pretending I can see into The Wolf's soul the way I could The Hooded One.
Another reason is that it's a million times harder to predict what a team is going to do when they're drafting in the late 20s or 30s of every round. Or don't even have a Day 1 pick thanks to Ginger Satan's unique brand institutional injustice. It requires you to cast a wide net and comb the mid-level prospects, hoping to predict the unpredictable. And it takes a ton of time. A simple breakdown of the wide receivers would take me a night and almost an entire working day.
With that, this seems like the perfect year to do it differently. To target the specific players I want to see the Wolf/Jerod Mayo regime take at Nos. 3, 34, 68, 103 and beyond. Consider this less like a ranking of each position and more like my Wedding Registry, now that I'm getting hitched to a new front office. A list of the gifts I expect to get. Which I'll add to a few times a week until Draft Day arrives at last.
Beginning with the position that's mission critical if we're not going to be drafting third every year for the next decade.
Drake Maye, North Carolina. 6-foot-4, 223 pounds, 34 1/4" arm, 9 1/8" hand
There's a reason why I'm starting with Maye as opposed to LSU's Jayden Daniels, who has generally been regarded as the third pick off the board since the draft process started. And that's because it seems as these two have switched positions. According to NFL Mock Draft Database, which compiles data from across all the major sites, 57% of them now have Daniels going to Washington, with 43% picking Maye to fall to New England.
Which works for me. And, if Maye's Pro Day is any indication, is just fine with the Patriots. They sent a contingent of coaches and scouts the size of Katie Perry's coronation entourage to Chapel Hill for the workout. And by all accounts, they came away impressed:
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With good reason:
Though it should be noted that long before the Pats entire personnel department arrived at the field house, Maye had them at "hello":
Let's find out why:
Overall: In 2022, Maye became only the second player (after Jameis Winston) to win ACC Player of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Offensive Rookie of the Year in the same season when he threw for over 4,300 yards, with 38 TDs and just 7 INTs. He also added just shy of 700 rushing yards and another 7 TDs on the ground, both team highs. That won him the Shaun Alexander Award as the nation's top freshman and a finalist for the Manning Award as the top QB. He excelled at UNC's no-huddle spread attack, operating almost exclusively out of the gun with short drops, running read-options and RPOs.
Positives: He fits the prototype of modern day pro quarterback. What the guys in the lab coats would draw up, assemble in the R&D lab, test in a wind tunnel, and then present to the board as the next innovation that's going to make us all rich. He's massive, but also possesses high level athletic traits. He can move for a guy his size, with both a scramble ability (scrambility? I'll work on it), and the legs to pick up yards when a play breaks down. He's got a big arm. As you saw above, can launch a ball 65 yards with minimal effort and hit his target in stride. One scout graded him for 11 games and said he was dead-balls accurate on 21 of 26 attempts. And as we get to the areas where he needs to improve, keep in mind that despite already having 30 starts in his career, he won't turn 22 until the last week of Training Camp. And still, as the Patriots discovered at the Indianapolis Dog & Pony Show, he gives great interview for a young fella.
Negatives: Maye is arguably the most polarizing 1st round prospect of the draft. I'd suggest we start calling him "Maybe," but I'm not Rick Reilly and this isn't the last page of the Sports Illustrated you subscribed to in 1997 so you could get a phone shaped like a football. What Maye has in terms of sheer size, ability, strength, speed and intangibles, he lacks in consistency. Particularly when it comes to ball placement. Which is obviously an important job requirement. It's commonly believed that while he didn't throw a ton of interceptions, the ones he did throw tended to be off target throws and mental errors. He also demonstrates a bad habit of drifting around the pocket as he's going through his progressions, which makes pass protection a nightmare for his pass protectors.
The Generic Equivalent of: Justin Herbert
To bottom line this, Maye needs refinement, coaching and patience. And therefore might not be an NFL-ready, plug-and-play guy for a team needing to fast forward to the part where they're a contender again. Which makes New England the ideal landing spot. A new head coach. A new GM. A team undergoing a major rebuild with Jacoby Brissett under center for a year as a bridge quarterback. It's not every year a QB with Drake Maye's ceiling. If he should get past Washington, the Patriots (distant) future is bright again. Let it be so.