It seems like every day, someone comes up with a reason why North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is behind Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.
Is it prospect fatigue? If you watch Maye, you can clearly see the tools, such as his size, arm strength, and athleticism. You can also see the areas that need some work, such as his mechanics and footwork. But fortunately for whoever drafts Maye, those are the easiest things to fix.
The Minnesota Vikings are believed to covet Maye. However, they have no shot at him at No. 11. The Vikings did acquire another first-round pick in hopes of moving up to land a franchise quarterback, be it Maye or someone else.
The truth about Maye is this: He will go no lower than No. 3 overall to the New England Patriots in next month’s draft. And there’s a good chance he goes No. 2 to the Washington Commanders.
Speaking of Washington, Tim Hasselbeck, who works as an ESPN analyst, spent two seasons with the then-Redskins in the early 2000s. He was a guest on “The Gresh and Fauria Show” on WEEI, where he discussed Maye.
“[I’ve] been at ESPN for 15 years evaluating quarterbacks as they come out for the draft,” Hasselbeck said via Mike Kadlick of Audacy. “I think he’s as good of a prospect as I have evaluated in this entire time. So, you know, from the Matthew Staffords to the Matt Ryans to you name ’em over that stretch—Andrew Luck … I think that he’s that good of a prospect.”
That’s a pretty high bar.
Hasselbeck wasn’t finished heaping praise on Maye.
“I think when people go through the process with Drake Maye,” Hasselbeck said. “There is almost nothing to not like about him. Now, he’s a really big guy, so if you’ve got really picky, could you say, ‘Hey, I’d like his delivery to be a little more compact’? Yeah, absolutely, you could say that… I think that when I look at him, I think he’s going to be a better pro than college player; I think athletically, physically, mentally — like athletically he’s going to be on par with the best.”
Opinions have been all over the place on Maye. But there is always one prospect — usually a quarterback — who deals with this overanalysis every year. Last year, it was Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud. How did Stroud turn out?
No one is saying Maye will replicate Stroud’s success, but some of the talk about Maye being overrated just needs to stop. He’s an elite prospect. If Caleb Williams wasn’t in this draft, Maye — not Jayden Daniels — would be the consensus favorite to go No. 1 overall.