The full NFL Top 100 of 2026 list has been released, and it’s hard to quibble over the players at the top of the list. Josh Allen ended up No. 1 with Myles Garrett right behind him. All fandoms aside, those are unequivocally the NFL’s best singular offensive and defensive players entering the new season.
Among Patriots fans, there was plenty of curiosity over where quarterback Drake Maye would land on the list, coming off a season where he fell a single first-place vote shy of being named MVP.
Maye ended up No. 11, just ahead of edge rusher Will Anderson and right behind the game’s top cornerback in Patrick Surtain. Maye was the players’ third-ranked quarterback behind only Allen and reigning league MVP Matthew Stafford, a clear nod to Maye’s meteoric rise to superstardom just two years into his pro career.
It was a tough morning for all the Maye detractors out there. There’s a segment of the NFL world that seriously believes the Patriots lucked their way to a Super Bowl while winning 10 straight regular season games and going 9-0 in true road games.
Take it from the NFL’s best quarterback — and a fierce AFC East rival to boot. Maye sitting on the precipice of the league’s top-10 tier is as legitimate as it gets.
As Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid said in the NFL’s press release, voting for Maye was easy based on how highly Allen regards him.
“I heard it probably more from Josh, you know, with just the amount of respect he has for him. And, you know, a guy of Josh’s caliber, you know, former MVP. I think you listen to what he has to say.”
The respect from Drake Maye’s NFL peers speaks volumes
Maye landing at No. 11 overall and third among quarterbacks should silence all the doubters. Patriots fans know it won’t, though. Rival fans who hate the Patriots with a passion have a hard time actually watching the games and separating the actual football from fantasy stats.
In the NFL's announcement, Kincaid and other players focused on Maye's elite ball placement skills — especially on deep balls — and freakish athleticism. As Surtain said: “He can get out the pocket and go missing. He’s got all the tools.”
Multiple players marveled over Maye’s tight-window throw deep down the sideline to Kyle Williams that kicked off a fourth-quarter comeback in the Patriots’ road game in Baltimore last year.
“Only the top-tier quarterbacks are making that throw,” one player said.
The nonbelievers will point to Maye’s rough playoff stats against four of the NFL’s most dominant defenses in the Chargers, Texans, Broncos, and Seahawks, and just completely write off the fact that he led the league in completion percentage and yards per attempt.
Those two stats don’t typically go together. Either you’re a check-down Charlie or a gunslinger. Maye was both in 2025, and with an improved skill position group led by A.J. Brown joining the team this offseason, there’s no reason to expect anything but further ascent in 2026.
Patriots fans know the debates will continue. Honestly, bring them on.
Josh Allen seems to be a pretty legitimate source, though.
Add us as a preferred source on Google