NFL writer compares Drake Maye to MVP candidate, Pro Bowl QB

On Tuesday, Ted Nguyen of The Athletic compared North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye to a 2023 NFL Most Valuable Player finalist and the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year after reviewing some game film.

"Maye attacks the middle of the field with anticipation and aggressively hunts for deep opportunities," Nguyen explained. "Ultimately, Maye’s rare traits are more reminiscent of the passers we’ve seen reach the modern pinnacle of the position. His creativity in the pocket and the way he manipulates defenses is hard to teach and is reminiscent of Josh Allen or C.J. Stroud." 

Maye began the combine, rated by some as the third-best quarterback of this year's class, behind Caleb Williams, a USC Trojans and LSU Tigers signal-caller, Jayden Daniels. Still, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated noted on Monday that "no quarterback helped themselves more in Indianapolis than" Maye. In a post-combine mock draft published on Tuesday, Jordan Reid of ESPN predicted that the Washington Commanders would draft Maye with the second overall pick. 

"Maye may need a year to hone in his fundamentals and experiment to understand what he can get away with in the league, but in my opinion, he has the skill set to take off as soon as his second season in the league," Nguyen continued. "After studying both quarterbacks closely, Maye might be closer to challenging Williams than he is to Daniels as a prospect." 

Not everybody is convinced. On Monday, Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports mocked Daniels to Washington at pick No. 2. Wilson also had Maye as the fourth quarterback drafted after Williams, Daniels and J.J. McCarthy of the Michigan Wolverines. New England reportedly could grab McCarthy via the draft's third selection. 

"Daniels still has a long way to go when it comes to speeding up his process and consistently attacking the middle of the field," Nguyen wrote. "His rare abilities are his athleticism and accuracy, which will give him a substantial floor to work with, but it’ll take time for him to develop the anticipation and timing he’ll need to be a plus passer. Additionally, his arm is just better than average, which makes his margin for error smaller."