Rookie Scouting Profile: Drake Maye

FullTime Fantasy Rookie Scouting Profile: Drake Maye

Drake Maye (QB) North Carolina

Ht.	Wt.	40-Time	NFL Draft	Dynasty ADP	NFL Comp
6-4	223	4.60*	Top 5	2.08	Carson Wentz

*estimate

College Production

Drake Maye was a top-50 (ESPN) national recruit out of Myers Park High School in North Carolina who originally committed to Alabama before de-committing and enrolling at North Carolina in January of 2021. Redshirted behind Sam Howell as a freshman, seeing action in just two games (10 attempts, 89 yards). Became the starter in 2022 and put up elite numbers, completing 66.2% of his passes for 4,321 yards and a 38-to-7 TD-to-INT ratio. His huge season led to Maye being named the ACC Player of the Year as well as winning the Shaun Alexander Award. He was also a semi-finalist for Davey O’Brien, Maxwell, and Walter Camp Award and was a finalist for the Manning Award. In 2023, Maye’s production dipped in 2023 in a new system and he lost a ton of talent to the NFL Draft and played behind a poor O-line. Maye still earned Second-team All-ACC accolades and ranked seventh in FBS with an 89.8 PFF passer grade.

Strengths

• Prototype NFL size (6-4, 223) with plus arm talent and excellent running ability.

• Very strong arm. When afforded good protection, can make all the throws. Deep-ball accuracy and velocity are excellent.

• Not afraid to stand in the pocket and is a capable ball-carrier who has plus rushing potential.

• Gun slinger who stood out in come-from-behind situations.

Concerns

• Severe drop in performance when facing pressure (43.3% completion rate when pressured). Maye was prone to make too many poor decisions when blitzed, leading to poor throws and interceptions.

• Lack of consistency and accuracy on intermediate throws.

• Struggles to process through progressions after first read is removed.

• Throwing motion changes as time in the pocket climbs. This leads to inaccurate throws and glitches in timing.

• NFL personnel and draft experts view Maye as a very polarizing prospect. His high-end comps include Josh Allen and Justin Herbert, but his floor harks back to several recent NFL draft busts.

Fantasy Outlook

This is a fantastic quote from NFL.com draft guru Lance Zierlein: “Challenging evaluation with top-flight measurables and tools but inconsistencies that create a lower floor.”

That is Maye in a nutshell. He has the athleticism and intangibles to be a potential Probowl-caliber starter in this league if he lands in a good system and everything clicks. However, the struggles under pressure and dropoff in accuracy invite NFL defenses to make life difficult for Maye. Additionally, I’m wary of quarterbacks from schools who don’t have an established history of churning out NFL starters.

Maye’s good qualities will ensure he is a first-round target in Superflex formats. However, his value plummets in single-QB rookie drafts. He is a risk/reward proposition.

It’s all but guaranteed that Maye will be a top-10 selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, but that means he’ll wind up on a poor team. That paints a challenging fantasy profile in redraft. Maye should not be drafted in standard redraft formats with a single signal-caller.

In Dynasty, he’ll wind up as a lesser QB2 but I don’t anticipate rostering him in many leagues.

Other Rookie Profiles

See where Drake Maye ranks in Jody’s 2024 rookie rankings.

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