On Tuesday, the New England Patriots benched veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett for No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye. This isn’t a huge surprise given New England’s 1-4 record, Brissett’s struggles, and how high Maye was selected.
Pro Football Network’s Week 6 stats and insights article included this note: “At Brissett’s current pace in attempts per game and touchdown rate, it would’ve taken him 138 games to break Peyton Manning’s single-season touchdown record (55).”
Now, we’ll see what the rookie can do. Let’s break down Maye’s game and how the NFL world reacted to this news.
NFL World Reacts to the Drake Maye News
Maye is a terrific quarterback prospect, which is why he was the third player selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.
PFN’s NFL Draft Analyst Ian Cummings actually had Maye ranked as the best prospect in this year’s draft class. You can read Cummings’ scouting report at the end of this article.
How did NFL analysts and players react to the news that Maye would be the Patriots’ starter going forward?
Albert Breer of The MMQB explained how the Patriots arrived at this decision, detailing Maye’s development and his recent progress behind the scenes.
The reality of the Drake Maye situation: He became the team's best option at QB. Momentum's been pushing in this direction for a few weeks. His footwork and knowledge of defenses has grown consistently. His work vs. the blitz has jumped recently.
This didn't happen overnight.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) October 8, 2024
The plan was always to let Maye sit for a bit and learn from the sidelines. New England had been giving Maye more practice reps than a backup typically receives to ensure that he’d be ready when his number was called.
Maye’s first start will come against the Houston Texans, which will be a tough test for the rookie QB. Since Week 7 of last season, the Texans have the second-highest sack rate (with a sack on 9.5% of drops). The only team with a higher sack rate is the New York Jets, whom the Patriots will play in Week 8!
New England gave Drake Maye more reps in practice than a normal backup, wanting to continue his development. They believe the moment is now.
Drake Maye starts this weekend. https://t.co/rtVYqjlPZO
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 8, 2024
Maye will battle last year’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, C.J. Stroud, who threw for 4,108 yards, 23 touchdowns, and just five interceptions while also rushing for 167 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie. The Texans quarterback is actually a big fan of Maye’s game, and he labeled Maye the most NFL-ready quarterback prospect in this year’s draft.
“I feel like Drake Maye is [the most NFL-ready]. If you watch his tape, just his arm talent jumps off,” Stroud said. “The one mistake I did early on in the first couple games is I moved around too much. I didn’t get the ball out on time. I started taking risks that weren’t even downfield necessarily but [while] scrambling.
“When you watch his tape, he scrambles when he needs to, he throws guys open, he has roll-out ability, [he has] different arm angles, so I like Drake Maye.”
CJ Stroud called Drake Maye the most "NFL-ready" of the QB prospects during the draft.
Now they'll face off in Maye's first career start 👀 pic.twitter.com/k6NYqBai8P
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) October 8, 2024
Former NFL player and current analyst Mike Golic Sr. tempered expectations for the Patriots under Maye. He stressed that this is “not gonna turn their season around.” Instead, this is a sign that the Patriots are focusing on the future and getting their potential franchise quarterback important reps so he can take the next step in his development.
His son, Mike Golic Jr., added that Brissett has been pressured more than any quarterback in the NFL this season, saying, “It’s been hell out there.” But Brissett was always going “to be a sacrifice at the altar of the first quarter of this season to try and see if they could get away with not playing Drake Maye.”
"It's gonna be Maye Day, but it's not gonna turn their season around. It's just about starting Drake Maye's clock." @golic
"This is what Jacoby Brissett was brought back to do, to be a sacrifice at the altar of the 1st quarter of this season to try & see if they could get away… pic.twitter.com/BM4my6ltf5
— GoJo and Golic (@GoJoandGolic) October 8, 2024
Maye might be in for a rude awakening, especially making his first start against one of the best pass-rushing teams in the NFL.
The Patriots tossing Drake Maye into the starting lineup behind their OL: pic.twitter.com/U3eFwapMOf
— Sleeper (@SleeperHQ) October 8, 2024
All eyes will be on Maye this Sunday at 1 p.m. ET when he gets his first taste of NFL action.
Maye’s Scouting Report
Check out Cummings’ complete scouting report of Maye here, but here’s a preview:
“The Tar Heels’ passer was a five-star recruit out of high school who jumped at the opportunity to play in Phil Longo’s high-production offense.
Maye’s 2022 campaign saw him complete 342 of 517 passes (66.2%) for 4,321 yards, 38 touchdowns, and just seven interceptions. He also toted the rock for almost 700 yards and seven scores.
In 2023, Longo left but Maye remained. And despite a slight dip in production — 3,608 yards, 24 touchdowns, and nine interceptions — Maye showed the same promise on tape that made him such a compelling riser in 2022.
It’s one thing to look the part of an NFL QB and have the talent of an NFL QB, but Maye did NFL QB things at as high a level as anyone in the 2024 NFL Draft — and he’s just getting started.
Maye is my QB1 in the 2024 NFL Draft and a top-three prospect along with Caleb Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr. It’s close between Maye and Williams for QB1, but Maye scored a marginally higher grade from me with his size, athleticism, arm, and leverage IQ.
Maye and Williams have some differentiating factors within their archetypes. As athletic as Maye is, there’s simply no matching Williams’ hyper-elite creation capacity and arm elasticity off-script. But while Williams is the superior creator, Maye is a very capable creator in his own right, with elite arm talent, spry and fluid athleticism, and effortless off-platform ability.
Beyond his natural talent, Maye shows promising operational qualities for a young quarterback. There are still a few mechanical issues for him to chip away at, and his occasional lapses in decision-making can be frustrating. But overall, Maye’s mental game is just as exciting as his physical upside.
READ MORE: Patriots QB Depth Chart: Maye To Start, Is Mayo Making the Right Call?
Maye is a measured, instinctive passer who can test defenses in the intermediate and deep ranges. He’s shown he can take what’s given in the short range and carve defenses apart in the intermediate and deep ranges with his anticipatory high-velocity javelins.
In fact, one of Maye’s most exciting traits is his actionable field vision and anticipation. He identifies leverage advantages in coverages instantly, and he can capitalize just as quickly, using his arm elasticity and angle freedom to widen throwing windows.
Maye actively uses his eyes to freeze DBs, understands how to open the field at his will, and has the rocket arm to take advantage. He can also multitask and manage space in the pocket while processing the field.
For Maye, the need for improvement lies in his inconsistent mechanical rhythm, base spacing, and his tendency to fall victim to cold streaks mid-game. When he’s in rhythm, he can manage the pocket, progress reads, control the pocket space and the field, and capitalize on his traits. But he’ll need to work on sustaining that rhythm.
Maye bears similarities to Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love. He’s a QB who doesn’t always rely on his athleticism stylistically but has the high-end overarching tools to be a passer who elevates his squad and creates off-script while also operating at a high level within the offensive structure.
There’s some development to undergo with Maye, but he has the pre-snap autonomy and the processing and anticipation ability to safely accrue reps early in his NFL career, and with a one- or two-year runway, he can get to the level of play we saw from Love in 2023.
Maye has all of the qualities of a franchise QB. Not only that, he’s one of the best QB prospects to come out over the past few cycles, rivaling names like Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, and C.J. Stroud. He should be in the mix for No. 1 overall, but he’d be an exceptional pick inside the top three.”
