The NFL Draft is already getting into high gear, and there are two quarterbacks at the top who seem to separate themselves from the pack. That would be Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, and while Williams is the consensus top overall quarterback, Maye is thought of highly. Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Hanratty talked about Maye on his podcast, Hanratty’s Huddle, and heard the comparisons of Maye to Ben Roethlisberger.
“Am GM told me that everyone talks about [Caleb Williams] from Southern Cal. And all of a sudden, a guy tells me, ‘Don’t be surprised if you don’t see Maye go before him,'” Hanratty said. “He’s like a Roethlisberger with better movement. Big and strong, and he’s got a big arm, and he’s a tough guy.”
ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovksy does not want people to forget about Maye, either, and he came up with the very same comparison last month.
Speaking on the Pat McAfee Show, Orlovsky broke down Maye’s game. He sees a lot of Roethlisberger in the game of Maye, specifically regarding his arm talent and ability to create off-script. Of course, that was a specialty of Roethlisberger throughout his career, and the fact that he could avoid prominent sacks made him much more challenging for teams to defend against him.
“I called a lot of Drake’s games in college, and he’s Big Ben to me. He is,” Orlovsky said. “The kid is 6-foot-5,, 230 now and could put on 20 pounds easily. He’s one of those athletes that when you watch him move, you’re just like, he’s a little bit not refined, he’s sloppy mechanically at times, but he is a freak. You can’t teach the stuff that Big Ben had, can’t teach the stuff Josh (Allen) has.”
As for the Steelers, there’s virtually little to no way Maye will be coming to the Steelers. However, if the Ben Roethlisberger comparisons are something you buy into, Maye could be a threat in the AFC or NFC, wherever he lands.
Maye seems poised to be a top-three pick, with Williams likely heading to Chicago. But will Maye end up in Washington, New England, or somewhere else? That remains to be seen, but he seems likely to end up as the second quarterback off the board, and on film, it’s not hard to see why.
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