Insider compares North Carolina’s Maye to this All-Pro QB

North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye. Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Insider compares North Carolina’s Drake Maye to this All-Pro QB

By Michael Gallagher | Last updated 4/1/24

While North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye has fallen down a peg or two in the eyes of many NFL scouts, SI.com’s Albert Breer still believes the 21-year-old signal caller is still one of the top prospects in the 2024 draft.

Speaking recently with NBC Sports Boston, Breer said he believes Maye’s pro comparison is closest to Buffalo Bills All-Pro quarterback Josh Allen, who also had a tumultuous pre-draft process as well before he was eventually taken seventh overall in 2018.

“[Maye] is Josh Allen, just a step down in just about every category,” Breer said. “I think that physically that maybe puts him closer to the ball park of where Joe Burrow is, but he’s got Josh Allen playmaking traits, he’s got pop in his arm, he’s a really, really good athlete. There’s a lot to work with there.”

"When North Carolina had a better supporting cast around Drake Maye in 2022 he played great..

The team kind of deteriorated around him last year & his play fell off..

The exact same thing happened to Josh Allen at Wyoming & Jordan Love at Utah State"@MoveTheSticks #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/r70gpWmWRY
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 27, 2024

Both Maye (6-foot-4, 230 pounds) and Allen (6-foot-5, 237 pounds) have similar builds, strong arms and all the physical tools that make scouts salivate, and yet, both for whatever reason had every minute aspect of their game judged under a microscope leading up to their respective drafts.

Maye began the year as the projected No. 2 overall pick behind USC’s Caleb Williams, but he’s recently been passed by LSU’s Jayden Daniels as the favorite to go to the Washington Commanders in many mock drafts.

A down year, in which he threw for 713 fewer yards and 14 fewer touchdowns with two more interceptions than he did a season ago with a completion percentage that also dipped slightly from 66.2% to 63.3%, has dropped Maye from a sure-fire top-two pick to a fringe top-five selection.

Breer maintains that Maye’s down 2023 season shouldn’t be held against him too much considering he lost his two top wide receivers from a season ago and his supporting cast this year wasn’t as good as it was when he was a sophomore, which is the year he says Maye really showed he could be a top-of-the-draft QB.

“He seemed to be the leader of every group he was in,” Breer added. “The intangibles with the kid are really good and I think when you combine them with talent, he gives himself the chance to get there the way Josh Allen did.”

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