Entering the draft, there is no bigger need for the Denver Broncos, as currently constructed, than quarterback. With Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci being the only QBs currently on the roster, the question is not if but when Denver will add another player to the room.
The good news? There are plenty of intriguing options for the Broncos in the 2024 NFL Draft, and of those options, perhaps none is more intriguing than UNC’s Drake Maye.
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 223 pounds
Hand: 9 1/8″
Arm: 32 1/4″
Positives
- Prototypical height and weight for the position.
- Elite arm talent both in terms of his ability to push the ball downfield and to get velocity on throws into tight windows.
- Moves much better than you would expect out of a 6-foot-4 quarterback.
- Enters the league as an above-average athlete at the position.
- Has a natural feel for pressure in the pocket and consistently navigates pressure in the most effective way.
- Keeps his head up looking to make a play downfield while on the move.
- Elite out-of-structure talent. Is more than capable of keeping the play alive in the second act.
- Able to rocket the ball in with velocity but also displayed the ability to throw with touch when needed.
- Displayed the ability to throw from multiple different angles and arm slots to get off the best pass.
- Creative thrower.
- Able to threaten every blade of grass and punish defenders on the ground when receivers are covered.
- Has strong situational awareness and does well in avoiding sacks when under pressure.
- Consistently showed the ability to attack the leverage of defenders when out of position or not facing the ball.
- Constant “attack” mentality, always looking to make the big play when he can.
Negatives
- Footwork can get sloppy at times, especially during plays where circumstances are bad.
- Displays poor accuracy at all three levels, at times, often missing high.
- Occasionally drifts past the tackle, leading to unnecessary sacks.
- Difficult projection from North Carolina offense to NFL system.
Overall
Some draft prospects, like Zach Wilson or Jayden Daniels, come out of nowhere and burst onto the scene as a top player in the class.
Drake Maye was not one of those players.
Maye was a five-star recruit out of high school with interest from programs including Alabama, Clemson and Georgia, but ultimately decided to stay home and commit to the University of North Carolina.
Maye became the Tarheels’ starter after Sam Howell entered the NFL Draft, and to say he had immediate success is putting it lightly. In his first season as the starter, as a true sophomore, Maye posted 4,321 yards, 38 touchdowns and seven interceptions in a season that cemented him as a future top-five pick in the 2024 draft.
UNC lost multiple players following his first season and Maye’s numbers declined that year, posting a measly 3608 yards, 24 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, which led some to question Maye’s status as a top-three pick, but I believe the case that he should be the second quarterback selected in this class is an easy one to make.
The No. 1 trait that stands out with Maye when watching him is his unteachable feel for defenders honing in on him. He has a “sixth sense” to his game where he feels the pressure and makes the necessary movements in the pocket to buy more time and make the play. When he does this, his goal isn’t to take off and run, but rather to keep his eyes downfield and hit one of his receivers for a big gain.
On top of that unteachable feel for pressure, Maye has all of the tangible tools that you could want in a quarterback.
He has A+ size, at 6-foot-4 and 223 pounds, and he is oozing with arm talent. This isn’t simply being able to throw the ball far downfield –which he can do — but to get extreme velocity on his passes and push the ball into tight windows with consistency as well.
What surprised me a bit with Maye, as opposed to other players of his archetype, is he displayed a very deep bag of different throws and arm angles that he has at his disposal. Maye isn’t a one-speed thrower, as he’s able to zip the pass in or throw with more touch, to give his receiver a chance to get yards after the catch.
Additionally, he’s able to throw from numerous platforms and arm angles that allow him to be a weapon at all times.
In the Duke game, he has a terrific play, where he pump-fakes the free-rushing defender and then slots his arm around him to get the ball off.
Maye consistently throws from the ideal angle to give himself the best chance at making a play.
One area where Maye excels, that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from the lanky, 6-foot-4 quarterback,
is his exceptional athleticism. He may very well be the fastest straight-line speed quarterback in this draft, and he has the elusiveness to make a defender miss when he needs to.
The ability to excel in the “second act” of a play and punish the defense even when they have the right answer is a must-have trait for a modern quarterback, and Maye does this as well as any quarterback prospect in recent memory.
What makes Maye such a special prospect is that he has all of this elite talent and he knows it. He plays every game like he and everybody else know that he is the best player on the field. He consistently pushes the ball downfield and looks to buy time for the big play, which is a shared trait among all of the best quarterbacks in the sport nowadays.
While this is awesome and something you want from your quarterback, it does get Maye into trouble at times.
Sometimes his lower half mechanics can “freestyle,” leading to them not being tied together with his upper half and delivering frustrating misses. This shows up often during plays where a lineman gets beat or a receiver is covered, and Maye tries to make something happen, but he can sometimes make the busted play worse.
At times, Maye can get lazy with his mechanics as well. He’ll attempt throws fading backward off of his back foot that he feels he can make, but too often it leads to an unnecessary miss. Other times, he’ll throw solely with his upper body and sail a pass. When he misses, he frequently misses high.
While these issues are frustrating on film, they mostly all tie back to his lower body mechanics, and that is correctable with proper coaching.
Meanwhile, Drake Maye provides an elite skillset to whichever team drafts him and excels in all of the traits that cannot be coached.
In a league where a quarterback’s ability to excel under pressure and be creative as a passer has never been more important, Maye’s rare high-end proficiency in that aspect of the game makes him especially tantalizing.
Drake Maye for the Denver Broncos
I believe that if Sean Payton had his choice of the top-four “non-Caleb Williams” quarterbacks in this draft, to answer the Denver Broncos’ void at the position, his favorite would be Drake Maye.
Payton has talked about how he looks for processing and accuracy in quarterbacks, but I think his top trait as a quarterback is creative playmaking within the pocket.
Payton talked about Patrick Mahomes as a prospect and what he liked the night after the 2017 draft, and
this is what he had to say:
“The one thing that stood out, this player could climb, escape, throw from all the positions. And we play in an imperfect game where there’s protection issues. And we just saw him make throws going left, going right, through the pocket, up in the pocket. I mean really unique throws. And look, man, in a conference and on a team where they had to go into a game feeling like scoring 45 was gonna give ’em a chance … And when you meet him, then, and you get a chance to visit with him on the football DNA, I think Kansas City and Andy [Reid] and those guys got a heck of a player.”
Anyone who has watched Mahomes with the Chiefs knows that his ability to operate under pressure and make something out of nothing is part of what makes him such a special player, and what Payton identified as a special talent.
The feeling of inevitability you get when playing Mahomes is a product of this. Even when everything is covered, he still punishes the defense, either by running around and buying time for somebody to open up or by taking off and getting the yards needed.
I think that’s what Payton is looking for in a quarterback, and if that is what he is looking for, nobody in this class possesses that trait of inevitability more than Drake Maye. He would be the rare quarterback worth a trade-up, despite the Denver Broncos’ precarious present position.
