The New England Patriots and Drake Maye's season came to a halt with a thud as they were trounced by the Seattle Seahawks 29-13 in a Super Bowl game that wasn't nearly that close.
It ended a Cinderella-like season in which the team Mike Vrabel logged an overall 17-5 record. Those efforts prompted NFL.com to rank Maye fourth in their quarterback rankings.
In light of some of the hyperbolic criticisms of Maye lately, this ranking may seem accurate. Yet it belies several key points in Maye's favor that were clearly glossed over in this ranking. Maye was ranked fourth on his 21-game season, while the others were ranked based on the games they played. All of the quarterbacks ahead of him played fewer games. That, in itself, makes the rankings suspect.
In addition, other key factors came into play, skewing the results in favor of the three quarterbacks ranked higher than Maye. Statistics alone cannot be the sole criterion for such rankings. Other very important mitigating factors enter into the equation that cannot and should not be ignored.
Drake Maye ranks high on NFL.com's QB list, but maybe he wasn't high enough
Drake Maye had the NFL's best 2025 regular season. Why include the playoffs at all when the ranked quarterbacks played fewer games than Maye did? One would almost think it was a desperate attempt to try to smear the young quarterback's monstrously successful season in any way possible.
NFL.com surprisingly has a rather unflattering ranking for Drake Maye among 2025's NFL quarterbacks after his brilliant 2025 season. They ranked him fourth among all NFL quarterbacks after Matthew Stafford, Josh Allen, and Dak Prescott.
Using all of Maye's 21 games in the calculation. was to some extent, comparing apples to oranges.
This rank may be a nice contrast to some of the more cynical recent observations by analysts. Yet it still fails to reflect how proficient the young second-year quarterback was during the 2025 regular season, before he sustained a shoulder injury that skewed his postseason statistics.
Drake Maye had a terrific 2025 until he was hurt despite a sieve-like O-line
Mike Vrabel upgraded the Patriots' dismal 2024 offensive line by adding four new starters in 2025. Two veterans, right tackle Morgan Moses and center Garrett Bradbury, were signed in free agency. In addition, two rookies, first-round pick Will Campbell and third-rounder Jared Wilson, also started at left tackle and left guard, respectively. The results were mixed.
Campbell sustained a torn MCL and was out for weeks, and when he returned, his performances were spotty. In the Super Bowl, he was tormented for 14 pressures and two sacks. It was an uninspiring performance, and one must surmise his knee was balky since he returned from injured reserve.
Regardless, the non-beneficiary of his offensive line's lack of protection was Maye. He was sacked 47 times in the regular season, and the O-line was even worse in the playoffs, allowing a whopping 21 sacks in the four games. The six in the Super Bowl crushed any opportunity for Maye to rally his team to a win, especially with an injured shoulder.
Even under constant pressure all year, Maye excelled, leading the league in completion percentage with 72% and in other categories. On completions, he notched a full seven points higher than the voted MVP, Matthew Stafford, making a joke of the whole proceedings.
Maye was the true MVP and should have been voted for it. While he was only voted fourth by NFL.com, his real standing was No. 1 in the 2025 season. The facts, stats, and mitigating circumstances bear this out.