ESPN's Latest Drake Maye Ranking Catches Patriots' Fans Attention

The New England Patriots are entering the offseason knowing that they have found their quarterback of the future in Drake Maye. Finding a player of Maye’s caliber is never easy, but the Pats appear to have hit a home run after selecting him with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Coming out of college, Maye was one of the top quarterback prospects of his draft class, although both Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels were selected before him. Still, over the past five years, there haven’t been many quarterback prospects with more hype than Maye, as Matt Miller of ESPN recently conducted a survey of executives and scouts across the league that ranked him the fourth-best quarterback prospect since 2021.

“Maye drew comparisons to Justin Herbert for his size, arm strength and power as a runner,” Miller wrote. “He improved the North Carolina offense in 2022, throwing for 38 touchdowns and just seven interceptions while also running for seven more scores. Maye’s numbers were less impressive in 2023, but his potential was still outstanding enough for the Commanders to consider Maye at No. 2 before the Patriots got him.”

With Williams and Daniels getting selected before him, they obviously come in ahead of Maye on this list (which was based strictly on pre-draft grades). The only other quarterback to come in ahead of Maye on this list is Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Now, though, Maye may clear every name on this list. He finished second in the MVP race this season, and he just led the Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first full year as the team’s starting quarterback. So while he may not have been the top prospect entering the league, Maye very well could end up becoming the best quarterback of his generation.

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