Drake Maye making a case to keep preseason workload minimal

Of the six first-round quarterbacks taken in the 2024 NFL Draft, Drake Maye seems to offer the greatest amount of mystery and intrigue. We know that the first two picks of the draft in Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels will almost certainly be the Week 1 starters for the Chicago Bears and the Washington Commanders, respectively. Maye has an outside shot with the New England Patriots.

When it comes to Bo Nix with the Denver Broncos, he is probably the third most likely first-round rookie quarterback to start in Week 1, but that might be mostly out of desperation for Denver. He is a fine prospect, but he has some awful habits from college that need to be cleaned up, but will they? As for Michael Penix Jr. on the Atlanta Falcons, he is much further along than many of us even expected.

While J.J. McCarthy is losing control on his rookie season with the Minnesota Vikings due to injury, it might be Maye in New England after all in the end. Despite played hardly at all in his preseason debut vs. the Carolina Panthers, he seems to be showing more and more people up in New England that he could conceivably usurp savvy veteran Jacoby Brissett atop the depth chart. This all feels inevitable.

If you want proof that Maye is probably ready to start now, check out this great throw to Ja'Lynn Polk.

The big question in the Patriots quarterback room is what to do with Joe Milton III and Bailey Zappe.

Drake Maye is closer to starting for New England Patriots than we realize

While I am not going to rule it out entirely, I still can see Brissett being the Week 1 starter for New England. He will probably start the first full month's worth of games, akin to what Andy Dalton in Chicago before Justin Fields eventually took over for him in 2021. Honestly, I would prefer that Maye sits at least for a little bit, mostly because the Patriots may not be good. However, I get starting him.

Tom Brady may be The GOAT, but Maye is the best quarterback talent New England has had since it drafted Drew Bledsoe No. 1 overall out of Washington State way back in 1993. The ball just looks different coming off Maye's rocket right arm. He throws with such touch, power and precision, no wonder he was positively compared to Aaron Rodgers coming out of North Carolina last spring.

If I had to put an accurate forecast out there, I think Maye starts more than half of his team's games this season. Brissett will start the rest, with maybe a spot-start for Zappe sprinkled in between. Milton is not an NFL quarterback, mostly because he was an idea of a quarterback in college. Right now, I would protect Maye at all costs to avoid a McCarthian disaster. Maye's day will be here soon enough.

Maye was the third pick for a reason: He was as physically gifted as he was close to being pro-ready.