Patriots took the best QB in the 2024 NFL Draft in Drake Maye

Could he make the Bears and Commanders pay?

Apr 25, 2024; Detroit, MI, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye is selected as the / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

As the dust has settled from the 2024 NFL Draft, we can take a step back and look at the bigger picture. One fit that is becoming increasingly favorable is the landing spot of Drake Maye with the New England Patriots.

Looking at what the Cleveland Browns did with Joe Flacco, there is a reason to think that Maye has the chance to light it up with new offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. He's got the biggest arm of the top quarterbacks taken, one of the best deep balls in the class, and showed toughness and poise in an often murky pocket at North Carolina.

Maye's fit with the Patriots was a discussion on the latest episode of The Daft on Draft Podcast.
The full audio of this episode of the Daft on Draft Podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Daft on Draft Podcast scouting series begins today... First up: @QBKlass!

Defining "arm talent," contextualizing accuracy, and more, Derrik and I talk about the important details of evaluating quarterbacks.

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— Cory (@fakecorykinnan) May 10, 2024

Fragmenting out just the conversation on Maye and the Patriots here, however, here was the disussion on the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft:

Drake Maye was the most on-target QB in the 2024 NFL Draft class

"I think Drake Maye is the best quarterback in this class. It's just what it is. Again, I chart quarterbacks. I have a Weighted On-Target Percentage metric that I've created and refined. And I think Drake Maye had the highest number. I know Drake Maye had the highest Weighted On-Target Percentage of any quarterback over the past three drafts. So, I'm bullish on Drake Maye."

Looking at Maye's fit with the Patriots

"Assuming Alex Van Pelt does some of the same stuff that Kevin Stefanski did in Cleveland as the offensive coordinator for the past four seasons, look at what Joe Flacco did in Cleveland down the field off of play-action, off of different run action looks that they were able to manipulate defenses because they have a diverse run game, those sorts of things. That might be a pretty darn good fit for Drake Maye if you think about it. I also do think he's a darn good athlete to make plays at his feet as well."

Commanders made a mistake taking Jayden Daniels over Drake Maye

"I was stunned Washington went with Jayden Daniels over him, who's won a good bit older and a late bloomer. Yes, he won the Heisman. But again, if we're talking about the talent surrounding him, Drake Maye played behind a pretty bad offensive line with his best receiver being a fourth round pick this year in Tez Walker.

And we're talking about Jayden Daniels, who played behind two future
first round picks at offensive tackle, two first round picks at wide receiver. And so that's where I remain a little bit skeptical of his transition to the NFL. He's a great athlete. I don't think the arm talent is top-tier, it's top-shelf, right? So when we're talking about the arm talent... the velocity is not there, his accuracy is great, especially down the field, but he doesn't always have the arm to get it there. He doesn't have the arm to drive the football into tight windows.

I also don't have a great deal of respect for Kliff Kingsbury, who's going to be his offensive coordinator. Just an iffy pick all around for me. Again, respect what he did at the college level. He was a lot of fun to watch. But we're talking about traits, tools, and projection to the NFL, I don't know if anybody has it better than Drake Maye."