North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is forgoing the remainder of his eligibility to declare for the 2024 NFL Draft, he said on social media Monday.
“Thank you, Coach Brown, for the opportunity to live out my dream of playing quarterback in Carolina Blue,” Maye said. “To the rest of the coaching staff and support staff, thank you for the countless hours of helping me along the way.”
Advertisement
Maye is opting out of UNC’s bowl game, the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, on Dec. 27.
The redshirt sophomore is projected to be a top selection and taken by the New England Patriots with the third pick in The Athletic’s Dane Brugler’s mock draft, behind USC quarterback Caleb Williams going at No. 1 to the Chicago Bears and Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. at No. 2 to the Arizona Cardinals.
Maye threw for 3,608 yards and 24 touchdowns against nine interceptions during the 2023 season in which the Tar Heels finished 8-4. He added 449 rushing yards and nine TDs on the ground this year.
— Drake Maye (@DrakeMaye2) December 11, 2023
The case for Maye to New England
With their quarterback situation in shambles, the Patriots have a bottom-five offense.
In his 24 years as head coach in New England, Bill Belichick has never drafted in the top five, but this season is certainly trending in that direction. That’s the bad news. The good news? This is a great draft for a quarterback-needy team to own an early pick. Maye is a young player and not without his faults, but he has promising talent and more big-time throws on his tape than any other passer in this class. — Dane Brugler, NFL Draft staff writer
Maye already makes NFL-caliber throws
Maye put himself high on the NFL radar during the 2022 season as a redshirt freshman and despite some ups and downs this season, he is still an expected top-three pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Cut from the same cloth as Justin Herbert, Maye is a good-sized athlete with a strong arm, scrambling skills and a ton of confidence. His tape shows the full passing inventory and I would argue he put more NFL throws on tape than any other quarterback in this draft cycle. He is also guilty of reckless decisions at times, but his talent and traits have NFL teams excited for his future.
Advertisement
Williams, who is expected to also officially declare soon, enters the draft process as the favorite for the No. 1 overall pick, but that isn’t a consensus with some teams believing Maye could be the first quarterback and player off the board. — Brugler
What Maye’s departure means for North Carolina
This has been the expected outcome for Maye, realistically, since the end of last season. Frankly, if he’d been draft-eligible this April, after his standout freshman season — which saw him win ACC Player and Rookie of the Year — there’s a good chance Maye would’ve already been a top-3 pick. So, yeah, this is not a surprise at all to North Carolina, which already added former Texas A&M starter Max Johnson out of the transfer portal. Johnson should slide into Maye’s starting role next season, although it’ll be tough to match the production Maye had in Chapel Hill.
As for the rest of UNC’s roster, Maye leaving only cements how critical next season will be for head coach Mack Brown. Between Maye and his predecessor, current Washington Commanders starter Sam Howell, UNC has enjoyed NFL-caliber quarterback play much of the last five seasons … and yet, Brown’s program only has a 38-26 record to show for it, with one bowl victory over that span. Not ideal! Some of the recruiting boost UNC enjoyed when it first re-hired Brown has dwindled, too. The point is, this is a roster that has had to be carried by its quarterback essentially all of Brown’s second tenure in Chapel Hill — so, what happens if that unsustainable play drops off even a smidge? The hope is that UNC’s running game and defense can take a step next season, to alleviate some of the pressure on Johnson, but that’s also been North Carolina’s “hope” since it re-hired Brown. — Brendan Marks, UNC staff writer
What is Maye’s legacy at UNC?
As probably the single greatest passer to ever come through the program. Seriously.
When Maye decommitted from Alabama to pick the in-state Tar Heels, there were great visions of him supplanting Howell and leading UNC to previously-unseen heights — and while the rest of UNC’s roster let him down somewhat, Maye was as advertised. Howell still holds most of the program’s career records strictly from a longevity standpoint but in terms of single-season or single-game excellence? Maye is as good as anyone to ever come through Chapel Hill, including Howell and current Pittsburgh Steelers backup Mitch Trubisky, the No. 2 pick in the 2017 draft.
Advertisement
But at the same time, UNC fans have to feel like Maye’s legacy is a little bit incomplete, through no fault of his own. In Maye, the Tar Heels had something they — and few college teams — never have: a legitimate superstar quarterback, the kind who can single-handedly propel a team to greatness. And Maye almost did that … but be it UNC’s defense, or proclivity for penalties or just poor coaching, something always stood in the way of Maye taking the Tar Heels to national acclaim. Case in point: In both seasons with Maye as its starter, UNC fell from a one-time top-10 ranking to out of the polls entirely. Womp womp. To not win the ACC or post a single 10-win campaign with Maye at the helm of this offense is just disappointing, and will be one of the bigger “what-ifs” in program history. — Marks
Required reading
(Photo: Grant Halverson / Getty Images)
ncG1vNJzZmismJqutbTLnquim16YvK57lGppcm5haXxzfJFsZmpqX2Z%2BcLDRmqKeZZ2WxqZ5w56apZmimsBuusWlZJ2qkZvBbn6Pa2to