Drake Maye named a Top-10 second-year NFL player to watch in 2025-2025 season
Drake Maye named a Top-10 second-year NFL player to watch in 2025-2025 season Will Drake Maye further prove he's the New England Patriots' franchise quarterback in 2025
Drake Maye didn't begin his rookie NFL season as the New England Patriots' starter, but ended his rookie season as a clear-cut franchise quarterback.
New England continued to struggle in the post Tom-Brady era during its 2024-2025 campaign: missing the playoffs for a third-straight season, plus finishing 4-13 and in the AFC East cellar for a second-straight year. Jacoby Brissett was largely ineffective in five weeks as the Pats starter, forcing Jerod Mayo to start his rookie from UNC.
Maye finished his rookie season with 2,276 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns and 10 interceptions, plus Maye added 421 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground, showcasing his dual-threat ability. Maye's passing numbers aren't Pro Bowl-level by any means, but considering New England's Swiss cheese of an offensive line, Maye played fairly well.
The Patriots upgraded their roster big-time in the offseason, highlighted by revamping Maye's receiving corps, adding former Tar Heel Mack Hollins and trading for Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs. New England snagged Maye's protector in the NFL Draft, taking LSU offensive lineman Will Campbell fourth overall.
Because of these moves, NFL Network analyst Marc Ross named Maye as one of his Top 10 breakout candidates – amongst second-year players.
"The Patriots have made a concerted effort this offseason to build around Maye, who had a highly impressive rookie year, despite working behind a leaky offensive line and with minimal firepower around him," Ross said. "Back in January, New England hired head coach Mike Vrabel, who took the Titans to the playoffs in three of his six seasons in Tennessee – and was inducted into the Patriots' Ring of Honor in 2023. Vrabel brings some stability to the coaching staff. In addition, the return of Josh McDaniels – as offensive coordinator – should help Maye take more ownership at the line of scrimmage and play to his strengths."
Barring an injury bug in upstate New York, the Buffalo Bills will run the AFC East with Josh Allen once again. Don't be surprised to see Maye's Patriots shock the league, though, winning plenty more games and possibly sneaking into the playoffs.
Follow us @TarHeelsWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of North Carolina Tar Heels news, notes and opinions.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How many of last season's sacks were on Commanders' Jayden Daniels?
One of the biggest metrics we use to analyze defenses, offensive lines, and quarterbacks is sacks. How many sacks did a defense (or player) record? How many sacks did an offensive line allow? How many sacks did a quarterback take? We use this because sacks have such a profound impact on the game. Sacks impact more than field position; sacks affect every player's ability to focus on the game rather than the potential mistake they made. However, determining who is at fault for sacks taken by the quarterback is difficult. Often it's the result of a defender bursting through the line too fast, but there are times when the quarterback holds the ball too long, or he tries to scramble and fails, or any other number of things. Credit is always given to the opposing defender, but who takes the blame? A new graphic released today shows how each quarterback fared in 2024. Forget how many sacks each quarterback took and take a closer look at which ones were deemed the fault of the quarterback versus the ones that are not their fault. Caleb Williams took the most sacks in 2024, but less than 45% of them were his fault. By contrast, Matt Stafford took among the fewest sacks in 2024, yet almost 72% of them were his fault. Advertisement Now, let's look at Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels. Daniels took the sixth-most sacks in the NFL in 2024, but only 40.4% of those sacks were his fault. That number is consistent with the likes of Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Brock Purdy, and Jared Goff. Adam Peters made some additions and adjustments to the offensive line and the offense through free agency and the draft. With Daniels entering his second season and having a better idea and understanding of how the game works and what to expect, plus the changes made by Peters, Daniels should suffer fewer sacks in 2025, which will help the offense keep the ball on the field and open more opportunities to score points. This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders' Jayden Daniels is elite in yet another categotry
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Chip Kelly: Not many humans have size and speed like Raiders rookie WR Dont'e Thornton
At the NFL Scouting Combine, former Tennessee wide receiver Dont'e Thornton Jr. opened a lot of eyes by measuring 6-foot-5 and running his 40-yard dash in 4.30 seconds. He was the tallest player ever to run that fast at the Combine. That led the Raiders to draft Thornton in the fourth round despite minimal production in college: He caught just 65 passes in four seasons of college football, two at Tennessee and two at Oregon. Raiders offensive coordinator Chip Kelly says that a unique talent like Thornton can develop into a productive receiver, even if he hasn't done it yet. Advertisement "I think Dont'e is unique in terms of he's just a hair under 6-5 and he ran 4.3. There's not a lot of humans on this planet that do that," Kelly said, via "And I think if you had a draw up an outside receiver, you would pick that type of body type, someone that's got length, someone that's got a huge catch radius, but also has speed. Sometimes you can get a big guy like that, but he can't really run, so they can stay with him. So, you add that speed element to him, his ability to sink his hips, his ability to get in and out of cuts." The Raiders have a long history of valuing physical attributes like size and speed, and General Manager John Spytek said Raiders owner Mark Davis knows his father, Al Davis, would have loved Thornton. "Mark joked that was the Al Davis pick of this draft," Spytek said. "The height, weight, speed, raw traits, athleticism, speed, and I think it's just focusing on what he can do and what he can be. . . . You watch his target tape, I think it's pretty impressive. And we think he hasn't hit his ceiling yet." The Raiders think they added a uniquely talented receiver when they brought Thornton to Las Vegas.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Huge 2026 NFL mock draft update rebuilds Steelers offense
We are a month away from the start of NFL training camps and just after that, the college football season will kick off. So we thought now was the perfect time to update our five-round mock draft for the 2026 NFL draft. As things stand right now, we have five quarterbacks with a first-round grade and depending how the college season plays out, there should be a potential franchise quarterback on the board when the Steelers pick in the first round. This time around we utilized the mock draft simulator from Mock Draft Database that utilizes projected compensatory picks and very up to date prospect rankings. First round - QB Fernando Mendoza - Indiana The Steelers pick No. 15 overall in this mock and a run on quarterbacks leave them with Indiana's Fernando Mendoza. He's not a household name yet but by the time the draft gets here, he should be one of the first four quarterbacks off the board. Second round - CB Jalon Kilgore - South Carolina Kilgore has prototypical NFL size and athleticism and showed a ton of growth last season in his coverage technique. Third round - TE Max Klare - Purdue We are rooting for Darnell Washington but if tight end becomes a bigger part of the offense, a pick like Klare as a receiving weapon makes a lot of sense. Third round - WR Nic Anderson - LSU Anderson is healthy and getting a fresh start at LSU. He is good at everything and has no real glaring weaknesses to his game. Third round - RB Jonah Coleman - Washington If Jaylen Warren leaves after the season, the Steelers will need to add a back to go with Kaleb Johnson. Coleman is a powerful, squatty back with impressive balance truly elite vision with sneaky athleticism. Fourth round - OT Drew Shelton - Penn State Massive powerfuly run blocker who just overwhelms defenders with his size and power. Fourth round - S Keon Sabb - Alabama Exceptional developmental safety who might end up going much sooner than this if he can develop more in coverage Fifth round - IOL - Febechi Nwaiwu - Oklahoma Nwaiwu transfered to Oklahoma last season and after he got up to speed, really looked good as the team's starting right tackle. We expect him to make another big jump in 2025 and he could be Isaac Seumalos' replacement. Fifth round - WR Germie Bernard - Alabama Alabama is Bernard's third FBS team in four seasons. He's not spectacular in any area but he's found a way to develop as a really reliable possession receiver if he can just have some stability in coaching and scheme.
