Drake Maye's impressive rookie season has put him in the same conversation as the potential league MVP.
The New England Patriots quarterback has drawn comparisons to Buffalo Bills signal-caller Josh Allen with big arm and dual-threat ability. He showed off his Allen-like talents with his shovel-pass touchdown in Sunday's loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
While it's been a rough season in Foxboro, Pats fans can take solace in their first-round quarterback looking like a future star. On Wednesday's Early Edition, NBC Sports Boston's Patriots insider Tom E. Curran and Boston Sports Journal's Mike Giardi discussed whether Maye is on a trajectory to soon join Allen as a top-five NFL QB.
"Josh Allen's improvement has been so drastic from his first year, but I'll say this: I think Drake Maye is starting at a higher point than Josh Allen was," Curran said. "He's not faster, he's not bigger, but the plays that Drake Maye is making this year and the lack of just utter stupidity that Josh Allen would routinely exhibit even in 2021 was knee buckling and it's kind of gone away.
"So can Maye be in the class? I'm not going to go into he could be better. Maye could probably be a top-five, top-eight quarterback, and we used to say the same thing about Mac Jones but we'd stop around 12, best case. This guy could be top-three, top-six, best case."
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Giardi pointed out that while Maye might never be where Allen is physically, the third-overall draft pick already looks more advanced in areas that took Allen multiple years to develop.
"I've compared him to Josh as 'Josh Allen Light,'" Giardi said. "He's never going to have the same arm that Josh has. Josh has the best arm or the second-best arm in the league. ... To Tom's point though, Josh was a 52-percent passer as a rookie. Like, we're talking wild bronco. Like, no real idea of what he was doing. And he only went to 59 in Year 2.
"Their offense was a little bit more big-play oriented, so you have some of that Anthony Richardson comp, but Drake takes the profit, which is what they were talking about today, which is what Josh does now better than he's ever done. But he's so far more advanced as a passer and just the the coolness which he plays in the pocket. Josh didn't have that until Year 3. Brian Daboll did a phenomenal job with him to get him to that point. He did a phenomenal job himself to get to that point. But Drake, at least from a pure passer standpoint, has started way higher than Josh."
Maye humbly brushed off the Allen comparisons on Wednesday, but Allen heaped praise on him ahead of their Week 16 matchup.
"I think their quarterback is going to be really good for a really long time," Allen told reporters on Wednesday. "He’s making some unbelievable plays, extending and from the pocket. I’ve got a lot of respect for him and his game."
The first Maye vs. Allen showdown will take place Sunday in Buffalo. Kickoff for Pats-Bills is set for 4:25 p.m. ET.
Watch the full Early Edition discussion below or on YouTube:
