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Drake Maye NFL Draft 2024: Combine Results, Scouting Report For North Carolina QB

Originally posted on The 33rd Team | By Greg Cosell | Last updated Mar 7, 2024 1:46 PM ET

The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.

Here's our report on Drake Maye.

Drake Maye'S 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS

Height: 6'4"
Weight: 223 lbs
40-Time: DNP (Did Not Participate)
10-Yard Split: DNP
Vertical: DNP
Broad Jump: DNP
3-Cone: DNP
Shuttle: DNP

Drake Maye 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT

STRENGTHS:

Desirable combination of size, throwing ability and athleticism. Possesses the needed traits of an NFL QB.
Easy natural thrower with minimal effort. Could drive the ball down the field: Knee bend, hips and core torque.
Explosive arm talent with the traits to make every throw. Can drive the ball at all levels with velocity and touch.
Aggressively worked between the hashes with refined sense of timing and anticipation, velocity and firm touch.
Threw with velocity when demanded and pace and touch when needed.
Showed subtle pocket movement with two hands on the ball. Re-set his throwing platform with a firm base.
Good athlete who can make second reaction plays, throwing and running. Also designed QB run game.
Second reaction playmaking dimension with outstanding poise and composure outside the pocket on the move.
Strong mental framework reflected in that bad plays did not affect him. Came right back and made good plays.
2023 – It is evident from tape that Maye can execute a drop back passing game with efficiency at all levels.
Outstanding go ball and fade ball thrower, with precise ball placement, especially with no margin for error.
Showed poise and composure to trust and work comfortably through progressions. Stayed sound in the pocket.
Snaps he started to move then re-settled, getting his feet under him with a firm base and delivering cleanly.
Consistently played with a calm helmet. It was evident he knew what he was seeing and how to process it.
Poise and patience to move within the pocket when primary read was taken away to work to secondary reads.

WEAKNESSES:

At times, he drifted in the pocket to his left when there was no pressure and no reason to move off the mid-line.
Consistently showed a tendency to drift rather than stay in the pocket. Created his own pressure at times.
At times, he was tentative in the pocket. He did not turn it loose when throws were there. Must become more decisive.
Too many dropbacks in which he left throws on the field. Needs to process and isolate quicker from the pocket.
At this point, he lacks a refined sense of timing-anticipation, resulting in throws that aren’t made that should be.
2023 – Still showed tendency at times not to register and process reads, leaving clean throws on the field.
Still too many snaps he drifted to his left when there was no pressure.
There were a few too many misreads where he didn’t process the route concept versus the coverage correctly.
Needs to develop a better feel for pocket movement rather than running out of the pocket. Higher-level trait.
While he threw outstanding deep ball, must become more location precise on intermediate and shorter throws.

NFL TRANSITION:

Maye is a high-level quarterback prospect with the size/arm strength/ball placement/athleticism/movement profile that will be in high demand. He consistently played with a natural sense of poise and composure that was reflected in his calm helmet and comfort in working through progressions from the pocket.

It was evident from his 2022 and 2023 tapes that he trusted the route concepts and combinations (and his protection) and allowed them to work for him, with the defense and coverage dictating where he would go with the ball. There was never a sense that Maye was hurried or frenetic in the pocket, and he did not break down and look to move unless he was forced to by the pass rush.

Maye showed the arm talent to make outstanding deep throws and to drive the ball with velocity when demanded. He can throw with the pace and touch to make the right throw into zone windows and at intermediate and short levels. What also stood out from Maye’s tape was his athleticism and movement for a man that size.

There were times Maye had a bit of a Josh Allen feel to his designed runs and his second reaction running. My sense was he was faster on the field than he looked on tape. There are some flaws to work out in Maye’s game (the biggest being inconsistent and at times erratic ball placement which could well be a problem), but there is no question he possesses the physical traits, with the natural pocket feel, in addition to higher-level athleticism to develop into a quality NFL QB with a chance to be one of the best.

OTHER NOTES:

Maye was a 4-star prospect who stayed in-state to play at North Carolina. He was the ACC Player of the Year in 2022.

In 2022, Maye was exclusively a shotgun QB with only nine dropbacks from under center and all of them in the red zone; the 2022 game-winning TD drive vs. Duke was a good snapshot of an inexperienced QB: Some mental mistakes that cost time off the clock, then an 8-yard TD throw off second reaction movement—strong mental framework.

A 2022 game-tying TD drive vs. North Carolina State was another excellent snapshot of Maye staying poised in critical situations and throwing TD with no time on the clock. It was a tough throw from the low red zone to the back of the end zone.

The 2023 tape showed the kind of intermediate and vertical route concepts and combinations you see in NFL passing games, so Maye clearly has a feel for and comfort level with them.

This article first appeared on The 33rd Team and was syndicated with permission.

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