The New England Patriots are in a strange position in the 2024 NFL Draft, poised to take a quarterback with the No. 3 pick in a year when they probably would have taken a quarterback with the first No. 3 pick. That leaves them unable to articulate their preference between their two most likely options: North Carolina's Drake Maye and Heisman Trophy winner Jaden Daniels of LSU.
The Patriots will likely sit back and take one of these two with the No. 3 pick.
But the paths to get here are very different for Maye and Daniels, and what they offer (and importantly, what they don't offer) their next teams is also very different. So, with the draft just around the corner, let's break down the strengths and weaknesses of each quarterback and consider how he might fit in New England.
May will be up first as she is scheduled to take down Daniels later this week.
Get daily NFL updates delivered straight to your inbox for free.sign up
Get daily NFL updates delivered straight to your inbox for free.sign up
buy
Strengths
It looks like May is playing that role. Let's start with that. He has everything you want in a modern quarterback. Arm strength? check. Mobility? check. size? check. The presence of pockets? check.
He is a four-star recruit from Charlotte, North Carolina, and was originally committed to Alabama, but then Bryce Young was committed to Alabama, leading Maye to change course to stay closer to home. is what happened. He also had a good relationship with University of North Carolina coach Mack Brown due to his family's long relationship. Maye's father, Mark, played quarterback at UNC (and then had a brief stint in the NFL) before joining Brown's staff as a graduate assistant in the late 1980s. There, Mark met his wife, Amy, who was a state high school basketball player from Charlotte. (More on the sports family they raised later.)
Maye redshirted his freshman year at Chapel Hill, where Sam Howell, who became his best friend, was the starting quarterback. Maye was then inducted as a redshirt freshman in 2022. What followed was a great season, with Maye totaling 4,321 passing yards, 38 touchdowns, and seven interceptions over the remaining 14 games.
![](https://theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1762208450-scaled.jpg)
![](https://theathletic.com/app/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1762208450-scaled.jpg)
Drake Maye is projected to be selected within the first three picks in the 2024 NFL Draft. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
That season drew high expectations, and Maye was in the conversation for the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft before he played in a single game as a sophomore.
In 2023, Maye's numbers dropped due to less talented players around him, but his high-level traits remained. His arm strength was evident as a freshman, but in 2023 he strengthened his mobility and became adept at throwing against the run.
This is where May can really hurt opposing defenses. He excels at engineered bootlegs and is a favorite of Kevin Stefanski, the former boss of the Patriots' new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt with the Cleveland Browns. It's easy to imagine Van Pelt designing a wide zone rushing game and Maye developing play-action from there.
However, May can use her legs for more than designed rollouts. It's an underrated part of his game. He has 56 rushes of 10 yards or more over the past two seasons, second most in Division I behind Daniels.
May also shows wisdom in his football knowledge. when Save those plays for the big moments and run with them. Over the past two seasons, he has racked up 42 first downs while moving the ball on third or fourth down.
Still, his arms and size are his best attributes. He has the strength at his 6-foot-4, 223 pounds to make any pitch with above-average velocity down the field.
It is also worth noting the athletic ability of his family. May said he was the youngest of four boys, all of whom were Division I athletes (two of whom played basketball at UNC and one who pitched baseball at the University of Florida). ).
Additionally, Maye is only 21 years old, making him the second-youngest of the top quarterbacks in this draft (five months younger than J.J. McCarthy).
Weakness
The most obvious starting point is Maye's statistical dip last season and his inexplicably bad plays at times. North Carolina switched up its offense before the 2023 season, opting for a more balanced approach rather than the Air Raid roots of Maye's freshman season. Maye also lost two of its best wide receivers (who had a combined 181 targets during Maye's freshman year), and the offensive line deteriorated.
Rather than trying to work within that (unfavorable) system and setup, Maye often tried to play the superhero, forcing throws and making unwise decisions. Like Josh Allen coming out of college, Maye had some plays last season where he should have just thrown the ball away or gotten a sack instead of trying to pull off a miracle.
Perhaps a veteran assistant like Van Pelt could coach that out of him, but it's a question worth noting.
Maye's arm strength is also a strength in general, but he sometimes misses easy underthrows because he delivers full-force fastballs even when he doesn't need them.
Another odd statistic that could be the result of a small sample size, or perhaps something more concerning, is that Maye seems to struggle with halftime adjustments by opposing teams. In the first half of a game in college, May's touchdown-to-interception ratio was 39-4 for him. That ratio dropped to 24-12 late in the game. Of the top six quarterbacks in this draft class, Maye had the fewest second-half touchdowns and the most second-half interceptions in 2023. Perhaps it was because of the coaching points he received, or maybe it was because he felt he needed to force himself to play well. Not a great North Carolina team. Either way, I feel it's worth mentioning.
Finally, again, it might just be a small sample size, but two of Maye's worst games in college were his last two. Maye, who led UNC to an 8-2 ranking in the top 25, has played at Clemson (16-of-36 passes, 209 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception) and North Carolina State (22-of-38 passes). Success, 254 yards) suffered a disappointing loss. , two touchdowns, and two interceptions) to finish the 2023 season. Maybe it's because there wasn't any talent around him, or maybe it's because he had one eye on the draft, but either way, it's ideal that the last two games are among his worst. isn't it.
verdict
Considering his size, arm strength, and mobility, it's easy to imagine Maye fitting into just about any offense. He's what a modern quarterback should be. There are areas he needs to work on, like playing within structure and avoiding catastrophic plays that result from reckless decisions. But even at his age, he could be the Patriots' opening day starter. Van Pelt can design a balanced offense with zone rushes and play-action passes that move Mayer and utilize his ability to scramble and throw on the run. And if Maye continues to develop, the offense could become increasingly designed around his arm.
(Photo: Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire, Getty Images)