After accomplishing one of the best second seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, expectations are sky-high for Drake Maye during what is already projected to be one of the most difficult schedules in the league for the 2026 season.
The 24-year-old is coming off a season where he led the Patriots to the Super Bowl, and because of that, he now has a new threshold to meet for the rest of his career.
Not only did he bring the team to the playoffs for the first time since the 2021 season, but he also led them to a 14-3 record and an AFC East title, while recording a league-high 72% completion with a less-than-stellar offensive group.
He was then voted into the Pro Bowl and fell just one vote short of winning the MVP Award for the season, and despite it being a beyond-impressive feat for such a young player, there are still plenty out there who balk at the idea that Maye is a superstar on the rise.
The evidence clearly supports that claim, no matter who says it, yet some, like former Broncos great T.J. Ward, weren't all that impressed. Although he's allowed to have his opinion, it's difficult to overlook why he might be unsupportive of Maye at this point in his career.
Drake Maye's success is not received well by those still holding a grudge over the Patriots
During a recent conversation about the current class of young quarterbacks with other retired NFL players Emmanuel Acho and LeSean McCoy, Ward referred to Maye as "average" and attempted to support his claim by suggesting his 2025 season wasn't all that memorable.
He scoffed at the rebuttals of Acho and McCoy, both of whom were listing statistics and Maye's accomplishments, all of which did not change Ward's mind.
Besides being completely wrong in his assertion that Maye was just "average," it's clear why Ward is unsupportive of the hype around the quarterback: he's frustrated that his former team, the Broncos, is not getting the same love for their young signal-caller.
Bo Nix was an unexpected pick by Denver during the 2024 draft, particularly in the first round, as many analysts and experts had him as a second-round selection. But since becoming the Broncos' starter, he has been on the rise, too, just going under the radar a bit more than those who were selected at the top of the draft.
That isn't entirely unexpected, given that the 2024 class was quarterback-heavy, highlighted by Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Maye. And while Nix has been playing well, too, he hasn't been nearly as good as Maye, making Ward's claim that he's only "average" even more unfathomable.
Mind you, Ward didn't say anything about Nix in the clip, and maybe that's not the entire reason that he is so negative on Maye. But given his loyalty to the team he won a Super Bowl with, it doesn't feel like a stretch to suggest this might be something on his mind, if not proving he's just another Patriots hater from his time as a player.
Regardless, the way analysts, fans, and former players want to downplay what Maye accomplished in just his second season doesn't make much sense. Any player in his position who recorded the kind of season he did deserves to be praised, no matter what team they play for or how the Super Bowl ended.
It's just another reminder that people don't want to see the Patriots succeed, and they will always refuse to give their players credit for achieving greatness, no matter what. In a way, that's something fans love to see because New England thrives on it. Yet it's still very frustrating.
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