Drake Maye 2024 NFL Draft Profile
The opinions seem to be all over the place when it comes to Drake Maye. With all the quarterbacks projected to go at the top of the draft, where does the former North Carolina signal caller stand among that group? As we project Maye forward, let’s hammer out the talking points you should know with his 2024 NFL Draft Profile.
With Maye, I think it’s first important to understand the odd trajectory of his development journey. Senior season of high school was canceled via COVID. Then redshirts sitting behind Sam Howell. That’s two years of football Maye didn’t see the field. Hashtag, not ideal.
The 2022 season when Maye took over was fantastic. We saw a lot of encouraging things. Maye won ACC Player of the Year as a redshirt freshman. That doesn’t just happen. Bums don’t win that award. Maye notched a 38-7 TD to INT ratio that season while completing 66.2% of his throws.
The 2023 season wasn’t nearly as fruitful but things were working against him. Phil Longo left for Wisconsin and the entire offense dipped. Mack Brown is also losing it but that’s a topic for another day. Let’s just say the coaching took a dip once Longo left and Maye’s numbers weren’t the same. It also wasn’t a very talented team and the only weapon he had in Tez Walker couldn’t play at the start of the year. As we learned with Walker, he isn’t exactly a number one and has major drop issues.
For that reason, I didn’t watch a ton of North Carolina. However, against SEC competition in the game vs. South Carolina, Maye looked great and guided a less talented team to a win. On the whole, the numbers were down last year. He dropped to a 24-9 TD to INT guy last year.
With Maye, it’s all about projecting him forward. There are just some things you’re going to have to ignore and believe in the overall ceiling of the player. Maye has a really elongated release and there are just times his brain short circuits. Out of nowhere, he will miss by 15 yards or will throw a pick that makes you question if he has the IQ of a rock.
It’s almost like having Justin Herbert flashbacks. Both super athletic guys that can make all the throws. Fell victim to poor coaching later in college and people started to ask questions. Both have too many moments where the brain short circuits but the raw talent is always obvious.
Maye comes from a family of athletes. His movement skills for that reason really aren’t a surprise. Mostly with family ties to the Tar Heels. His dad was a football player at UNC. Two brothers played/play basketball for UNC and his brother plays baseball for Florida. Everybody in his family is an athlete.
The athlete stuff with Maye isn’t hard to spot. Has real twitch. Really good arm talent. No issues making big throws down the field and can do it even off platform. Checks in at 6-foot-4, 223, and is very much a mobile quarterback. Has 1,147 rushing yards over the last two years.
With Maye, really it’s just the long release and the decision making. You get those two things cleaned up and there is no doubt he will become a franchise quarterback. He’s been hyped up for a long time and for good reason. Maye was a five star recruit coming out of high school and had a fairly nice showing at the Elite 11 camp.
I have Drake Maye as QB2 in the 2024 NFL Draft class with Caleb Williams being first, of course. Everybody has comps for Maye. Truthfully, I think he’s the closest thing we’ve seen to Andrew Luck since the man himself. He has that kind of juice and is a smart kid with major upside. Maye should have a long successful NFL career. Just don’t screw him up because he’s not fail proof. Has things to clean up and if a bad organization gets its hands on him, those bad habits could tank him. That’s going to determine what May ultimately becomes.
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