Drake Maye's second-year jump has analysts praising him in unexpected way

Drake Maye was promising as a rookie, and he had New England Patriots fans excited about the future. Just one year later, the future is now in New England. The Patriots are 7-2 after nine weeks, and the play of their second-year quarterback is a big reason why.

Of course, Patriots fans have made sure to praise Maye, but so have national media members.

That was recently on display in a Midseason Awards piece by FOX Sports' NFL writers. New England's young quarterback was named as the midseason MVP by the group, with NFL reporter Ben Arthur praising Maye for being “the NFL’s most consistently dominant and efficient quarterback this season,” before emphasizing how it’s not even close.

FOX Sports crowns Drake Maye the NFL’s midseason MVP

Arthur went on to detail how Maye is doing things that have only ever been done by MVP-winning quarterbacks, and how he has a ton of advanced stats to justify being the Most Valuable Player of the league after nine weeks of the season.

"In Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons, the former UNC star recorded at least 200 passing yards and a 100-plus passer rating for the eighth straight game. He's just the fourth quarterback in league history to accomplish that feat in a single season, according to Next Gen Stats. It so happens that the other passers to achieve the milestone — Peyton Manning (2004), Tom Brady (2007) and Aaron Rodgers (2011,2020) — all won MVP that season.

Through nine weeks, Maye leads the NFL in completion rate, completion rate over expected and expected points added, per NGS. He’s all the more difficult to game plan against because of his mobility and deep-throwing ability."

Ben Arthur (FOX Sports)

Not mentioned by Arthur, but surely factored into Maye’s selection, is the fact that New England is winning games. The Patriots are currently 7-2, which is tied for the best record in the NFL, and to be in the mix for the Most Valuable Player award, you typically have to help your team win a lot of games. Maye has been doing that, and he’s unlikely to slow down anytime soon.

The quarterback is only in his second season, but just his first year with Mike Vrabel as his head coach, and also his first season with Josh McDaniels as his offensive coordinator. So while Maye is already playing at an MVP level , it’s fair to say he’s just getting started.