Today’s evaluation is on UNC QB Drake Maye.
This was definitely my favorite eval so far. I think Maye is really really fun and exciting to watch and I’m a big big fan.
You’ll see a lot of Justin Herbert comps thrown around, and I like those. I saw someone today say a mobile Matt Stafford, which I like.
But there’s two guys that I really can’t unsee.
The first is: his style reminds me a lot of Josh Allen. He’s not the same athlete or runner that Allen is, but the way he plays, the decision making, the sort of chaotic way he can play at times, how much he trusts his arm and can throw off platform down the field reminds me a ton of Allen.
The second is that his play in structure reminds me a lot of Trevor Lawrence when he was at Clemson. UNC now and Clemson then both ran kind of weird simplistic offenses, and I feel like they both operate(d) them in similar ways. Maye’s throwing motion and style from within structure and how he moves with the ball out of structure remidns me a lot of Trevor Lawrence.
Let me know what you guys think of both Maye and the report!
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/17EnL\_spEepjYuvEs\_1Yrree6elpZCu2baKYqK1IAug4/edit](https://docs.google.com/document/d/17EnL_spEepjYuvEs_1Yrree6elpZCu2baKYqK1IAug4/edit)
Next will likely be Penix, sometime next week. I’m probably not going to do another QB eval this weekend, so I’ll probably get to Penix after the natty.
11 comments
I don’t wanna read this one because I don’t wanna window shop haha. Seems unlikely there’s a world we end up with him just given where we’ll be picking, and if we trade up it’s likely to #1 and I’d be surprised if he went before Caleb.
Question for you: how much stock do you put in him playing well against worse competition and struggling against better teams? I know that for the vast majority of QBs that’s not unusual. But I’ve heard it mentioned quite a bit for Maye.
No thanks!
I want Williams. Period.
Great work once again! Thanks for doing these, I didn’t realize how big the talent gap was from Maye to Daniels until I watched a couple of your breakdowns
Maye is the best overall prospect in this class at the position imo. Caleb is the flashy name brand pick. Caleb has more red flags on his profile than Maye does to me. Most of them are personality concerns but there’s other concerns in his actual game as well.
1. He’s shorter than people realize. He’s listed at 6’1 but similar to Bryce Young, he’s going to measure shorter than he’s listed. I wouldn’t be shocked if he’s more like 5’11
2. Most of his highlight reel plays don’t work at the NFL level. Bryce Young went above CJ Stroud because he was “the better creator”. Caleb gets the same argument. But it’s SIGNIFICANTLY more difficult to create like he does at the NFL level. He’s constantly shaking off weak arm tackles and scrambling around out of shape collegiate D linemen. He’s going to take so many sacks at the NFL level. He’s the QB equivalent of guys like CJ Spiller who pop every run outside in college and it works because they’re so much more athletic than the guys around them. Think Kyler Murray but a significantly worse rusher in the open field.
3. It’s not just about his scrambling, half the highlight throws he makes are into triple, sometimes even quadruple coverage. And it’s him throwing across his body, across the hash marks into these coverages.
I honestly think Caleb has huge bust potential. He’s way more of a project then people are making out. You’re going to have to coach so many terrible traits out of his game for him to have a chance at success. I think his only shot is sitting a full year and learning on the bench similar to how Mahomes did. And that’s just not going to happen with any of these teams who will draft him
Wow what a nice prospect, only if we lost any of 3 close games that would’ve locked us in a position to take him, welp at least we’ll get to watch him or Caleb on the commanders for the next decade 😒🤌
Is he mobile?
Don’t want him, give me Caleb, Jayden and Penix over him.
I’ve said it before I don’t understand how people are high on him. Threw 24 TDs/9 interceptions in arguably the weakest power 5 conference in the country. One of the most perplexing top 5 prospects I’ve ever seen and drafting him at the top of the board is going to cost someone their job.
You are the goat
I really just don’t see him being bad in the nfl