Chargers News: Bolts Legend Working With Drake Maye Pre-Draft

Eva Geitheim | Apr 23, 2024

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Former Los Angeles Chargers Pro Bowl quarterback Phillip Rivers has begun working with young quarterbacks since retiring. Rivers, who spent the majority of his career with the Chargers from 2004-2019, has worked with several quarterbacks this spring in the pre-draft process, including UNC standout Drake Maye, via ESPN's Kevin Clark.

Drake Maye is working with Philip Rivers before the draft. He loves it. Rivers and the QBs he's worked with (Maye, Bo Nix, Carter Bradley) recently had a throwing contest. Out routes into a net.

Philip Rivers won.

"Philip can still throw it" And yes he can still talk trash. pic.twitter.com/dudsSoJAVk

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) April 22, 2024

Rivers is a great player for Maye to learn from. He was regularly considered a top-10 NFL quarterback in his prime, and made eight Pro Bowls. He's also led the NFL in several important passing categories during various seasons of his career, including passing yards, touchdowns and completion percentage. If Maye can learn from Rivers and have that kind of success, he would end up having at the very least a good NFL career.

Maye is considered one of the best quarterbacks in this draft and projected by many to be a top-10 pick, if not a top-three pick. During his three-year career at UNC, Maye completed 64.9% of his passes for 8,018 passing yards, 63 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

His breakout year came during his sophomore season when he became the team's starter. He completed 66.2% of his passes for a program record 4,321 yards, 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions while also rushing for 698 yards and touchdowns. His stats regressed somewhat in his third year, but that was largely credited to a loss of talent on the team.

Now he's working with Rivers who went to his rival school in N.C. State. While the two would have been rival quarterbacks in college had they played at the same time, they were both two of the best quarterbacks in the ACC. Both players were the ACC Offensive Player of the Year and ACC Player of the Year during their college careers.

More Chargers: Why Jim Harbaugh Keeps Propping Up J.J. McCarthy As Draft Prospect