Drake Maye

6-4, 223, New England Patriots QB

Overall Grade 6.8

Scouting Report by Matt Manocherian 

Summary

Drake Maye is a young prospect with a tantalizing combination of size, athleticism, arm strength and accuracy to become a top NFL quarterback if and when the game slows down for him.

Maye is a right-handed quarterback in North Carolina’s no huddle, spread offense, where he is primarily utilized in short drops, RPOs and read options. UNC operates exclusively out of shotgun except in short-yardage situations. He played in 30 games in 3 seasons at UNC, including starting all 14 games in 2022 and each of their 12 regular season games in 2023 before declaring for the Draft. He is a young prospect who is still growing into his body, but he already shows  good size, arm strength and athletic ability for the position. He is a tough player who was the clear leader of the offense, even as a redshirt freshman. He commands the no huddle well and can have the snap within 10 seconds at his fastest pace, including in the two minute drill against Duke to get the game to overtime. However, his inexperience shows up at times, including calling for the snap in an obviously illegal formation on the goal line in the same game.

Pass Game

Maye is a talented passer who is capable of flashes of brilliance. He has a clean, over-the-top release with a consistent, repeatable motion. He tends to pat the ball before he releases it, which complicates the fact that he is already not a quick processor. He needs to see things come open before he lets it rip, and it helps to present him with simplified half-field high/low reads. That said, he has enough arm that he can overcome his lack of anticipation with velocity. If he could get the ball out a hair sooner, several balls he completed out of bounds would likely be catches.

He is a very good deep ball thrower. He shows very good touch on deep fades and go balls that stress the defense in both Cover 1 and Cover 2. He can drive the ball downfield on a line without needing to put much air under it. He shows good ball placement on quick throws, and he is very good at making level-two throws down the seam. He shows great feel with the ability to take something off of his throws when he needs to. He can also ramp up his velocity with a clean pocket. Most of his misses come when the pocket is messy, and he can’t step into his throws. He also tends to miss when he has to work through his progressions and reset his feet.

Maye is very effective when he extends plays and gets into scramble drill situations. He keeps his eyes downfield against pressure and does a good job getting the ball out of his hands before the rush gets home. He usually throws well on the move, especially when running to his right and throwing to that side of the field, but he has also had some troubling turnovers in these situations, including a pick-six against Clemson in the 2022 ACC Championship. He can make outrageous jump-passes (touchdowns vs South Carolina and Clemson in 2023), but he also has some bad misses on plays where he tries to make these throws with no platform. He loves to give his receivers a chance to make plays down the field, but they let him down a lot in 2023.

 Run Game

In the run game, Maye shows very good mobility. He has enough speed to be a legitimate run threat on the NFL level, but he won’t be faster than most defenders like he is in the ACC. They run a fair bit of option and read-option, but he’s a bit slow to make decisions in the read-option game. He is very dangerous on draws and can force the defense out of 2-man. He has the size to be effective on sneaks, but he isn’t a powerful runner. He is at his best on the second play when he can break contain, keep his eyes downfield, and when needed, scramble for first downs.

 Last Word

Overall, Maye projects to become a strong starting quarterback with “win with” ability. At this time, he is best suited for and can be effective in a spread scheme with lots of deep shots, simplified half-field reads, and opportunities for improvisation. If he develops the ability to anticipate and progress through reads, the sky is the limit for him, with an upside comparable to Justin Herbert.

 Critical Factors

Positional Factors

Strengths

 Weaknesses