Draft time is a wild time in the NFL. With teams grinding away trying to put together a plan to attack their future, prospects are putting the time in themselves trying to put their best foot forward ahead of the NFL Draft.
While some are fighting for the right to be picked in the draft at all, others, like Drake Maye, are at the top, trying to prove why they should be the top playmaker picked over their peers.
The North Carolina Tar Heel is widely viewed as a top-five pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, but according to one draft evaluator, Maye could fall much further down the board than consensus belief.
Could Drake Maye Fall in the 2024 NFL Draft?
According to NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein, he has been told by a draft evaluator that he believes Maye could see a fall in the upcoming draft.
Zierlein tells NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah that of the three quarterbacks at the top of the draft — Maye, USC’s Caleb Williams, and LSU’s Jayden Daniels — the sense he is getting is that Maye could be the one to suffer a slide.
The shared feeling by most around the league who cover the draft is that Maye is one of the three best QBs in the draft with the names mentioned above. However, this particular evaluator believes Maye may see a fall come draft day similar to the ones we’ve witnessed several times in recent seasons.
Sometimes, NFL media and fans may view a prospect higher than the actual scouts evaluating them and, in turn, start a bit of a perceived fall down the draft board when, in reality, it may have been where the decision-makers in the draft viewed them all along.
It’s too early to tell just how it will shake out for Maye come April, as we’ve yet to reach the NFL Combine or the pro day circuit. This may just be a case of one evaluator giving his opinion on a prospect, or it could be the first sign of a shared feeling within the scouting world that acts as a market correction on Maye and his value.
Maye’s Value Depends on Who You Ask
What makes draft season so fun and unique is the various opinions that there are for a player.
Some respected members of the draft community believe that Maye could be as high as QB1. Meanwhile, others, as mentioned above, see a potential fall in his future.
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Sometimes these things get overanalyzed, and with fatigue, comes rumblings of difference of opinion that gets amplified. While it will surely change several times between now and April, the top of the draft board, with Maye included, will certainly be something worth watching.
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