Drake Maye is less than 24 hours into his NFL career and the No. 3 overall pick already has a big fan in Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud. Before the New England Patriots made their first-round selection on Thursday night and brought Maye to Foxborough, Stroud joined Bleacher Report’s draft show and was asked who specifically was his favorite quarterback in the 2024 class.
“I feel like Drake Maye is [the most NFL ready],” Stroud said of the UNC product. “If you watch his tape, just his arm talent jumps off. He’s one guy, to me, the one mistake I did early on in the first couple of games was I moved around too much. I didn’t get the ball out on time. I started taking risks that weren’t even downfield necessarily. When you watch his tape, he scrambles when he needs to, he throws guys open, he has rollout ability, and different arm angles, so I really like Drake Maye.”
Of course, Stroud knows a thing or two about being a top-five pick after he was selected by Houston No. 2 overall last year and went on to have a stellar first season in the league that resulted in him winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. Not only that, but he was able to bring the Texans to the playoffs after winning the AFC South out of the chute.
Now, the Patriots are hoping that Maye can have a similar impact to Stroud now that they officially have made him their first-rounder. At UNC, Maye flashed his top-five potential that features stellar arm talent and, as Stroud noted, strong scrambling ability. For the Tar Heels, he completed 63.3% of his passes last year for 3,608 yards, 24 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also added 449 yards rushing and nine touchdowns on the ground.
