NFL staff members and commentators appeared to have less faith in North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye than in LSU Tigers signal-caller Jayden Daniels as recently as earlier this week.
Prior to the forthcoming draft, which begins on Thursday night, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller stated that “there are a lot of Drake Maye believers out there” in a post that was published on Friday.
“In a call with an NFC North scout this week, we talked about the North Carolina quarterback’s upside and physical traits,” Miller said. In this class, this scout thinks Maye is the ‘clear-cut QB2 and not far behind QB1’. The scout stated, “Maye is so raw on top of the fact that his arm and mobility are all things you can’t coach.” Teams believe that if he develops, they can send him to the moon.”
It seems certain that the Chicago Bears would select USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams first overall in this year’s draft class because Williams is largely seen as the top quarterback in the class. The Washington Commanders should select Maye over Daniels with the second pick, according to an anonymous AFC national scout who made this suggestion earlier this week. On Thursday night, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk mentioned that DraftKings had given Maye and Daniels “identical odds to go second overall.”
As of early Friday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had Daniels listed as the betting favorite with -125 odds to be the second overall choice in the draft, so that was not the case. With +100 odds, Maye came in second on the list. Additionally, DraftKings had Daniels at +115 and Maye at +100 as the betting favorites for the third overall pick.
Regarding his conversation with the NFC North scout, Miller stated, “That doesn’t likely affect how early Maye goes, since everyone I’ve talked to believes he’ll be no worse than the third pick in the draft as of now.” “But the talk over the past month that teams might not be as high on him as most people think is certainly not a consensus viewpoint.”
In order to move up to choose No. 3 overall for Maye, the Minnesota Vikings, an NFC North team, need a long-term quarterback and have the equity to give many notable assets to the New England Patriots. It remains to be seen if Maye is able to get past the Commanders in the draft order.