In Case You Missed it, Drake Maye is Back to Being the Best QB in the NFL
Let me say right off the bat here, that I've moved on from from dunking on everyone that was panicking about Drake Maye in the first three weeks of the season. Like any social contagion eventually does, that one has run its course. My point that it was merely a slump he was going through has been made. He worked out his issues. He's back to the Drake Maye we saw through most of his rookie year and all of last season. To put it in Lord of the Rings terms:
Giphy Images.… he's Anduril, Flame of the West. The Sword That Was Broken is The Sword That Was Reforged.
How you handle the shame of abandoning your Franchise QB after a couple of bad games is between you and your heathen gods. I've moved on.
But while you might have been distracted by trying to process your own lack of faith, you may have missed something. Maye isn't just doing better. He's done more than fix what was wrong. He has done nothing less that reemerge as the best quarterback in football in Weeks 4 through 6.
That's not my opinion as a biased, shamelessly pro-Patriots partisan observer. I mean, it totally is all of those things. But this time? The numbers support my argument. Consider this level of statistical improvement that has taken place:
And is interceptions went from 6 in the first three weeks to one since. And that came on a low pass that Romeo Doubs dove for, got his hand under, and flipped in the air to get picked. In overall measurements of performance:
Maye's passer ratings:
Weeks 1-3: 58.1
Weeks 4-6: 123.5
His QBR:
Weeks 1-3: 47.9
Weeks 4-6: 91.0
His Pro Football Focus grades:
Weeks 1-3: 36.6, last in the league
Weeks 4-6: 94.0, best in the league
Advertisement
Here's the growth pattern, week to week:
And PFF grades him No. 2 in Completion Percentage Over Expected, basically a measure of accuracy, despite the surprisingly bad start to the year.
Furthermore, Maye is back to being the best deep ball thrower in the league. Despite the deep interceptions he threw early on, he's moved up to 6th in PFF deep passing (throws of 20+ air yards) with 92.4, and a passer rating of 94.4 on those deep shots. Because he's been the best in the game at that part of the job.
NextGenStats agrees. The math checks out:
Advertisement
But the improvement I'm describing here is even more impressive when you realize how much better it should be. If only his targets weren't flipping interceptions in the air like they're grilling Krabby Patties and catching like they have 10 thumbs. All season, generally:
And this past weekend in particular:
I mean, this should have added 61 more yards and another TD to Maye's mind-boggling numbers:
But that's OK. Which is to say, it's not OK. But it happens. Besides, Maye carried his team to victory anyway, the way the greats do. And since he's back to his old 2025 self and there's 11 more games left, he'll have plenty of more opportunities to reestablish his dominance.
This is so much more fun than I was having three weeks ago. I'm going to enjoy this for all it's worth. Maybe I'm not through dunking on the doubters and the haters after all.