It's time for the NFL's annual awards to be handed out to various players and a coach. The New England Patriots have shocked the NFL, led by the NFL's best Head Coach, Mike Vrabel, and his MVP-candidate, top young quarterback, Drake Maye. Pro Football Focus has now recognized Maye as their "Breakout Player of the Year". It's no big deal and hardly the higher award he deserves.
Garnering the top two awards was LA Rams' quarterback, Matthew Stafford. He got both the MVP award and the Best Passer Award. The MVP is certainly up for debate. As for the best passer, PFF totally missed the boat on that one. No one in the NFL in the 2025 season was a better passer than Maye.
Maye did more with far less than Stafford, who has a superb team around him, unlike Maye, whose accompaniment is OK but definitely a work in progress. It's a far cry from Stafford's. PFF has discounted that in a major way, and it's a discredit to their usual analytical excellence.
PFF's Award to Drake Maye is "damning with faint praise"
Drake Maye was sensational in the 2025 season. After a rookie campaign in which his development was severely constrained by his own team's misguided football hierarchy, he still played at a Pro-Bowl level. This season, with a new Head Coach running the show and an improving (but still deficient) offensive cast around him, he took the Patriots to the top of the AFC East, dethroning the Buffalo Bills in the process.
In their 2025 awards Pro Football Focus acknowledged only one Patriot. It was quarterback, Drake Maye, and the award was uninspiring.
"Breakout Player of the Year: QB: After finishing second to Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford for PFF Most Valuable Player honors, Maye still took home PFF Breakout Player of the Year. The second-year quarterback ranked third among all quarterbacks in PFF overall grade (90.1) and tied for eighth in big-time throw rate (4.9%).
He also tied for 11th in turnover-worthy play rate (2.7%) and ranked third among all players in total positively graded plays (205), closing the season with seven games earning a PFF overall grade of 80.0 or higher."
Stafford had a great season with 46 touchdown passes, only eight interceptions, and 4707 yards passing. Maye had 31 touchdowns, eight interceptions, and only slightly fewer passing yards at 4394, and a record of 14-3. The Rams' record was only 12-5. There are other mitigating factors that PFF chose to ignore.
PFF ignores key elements in the quarterbacks' success
PFF awarded Stafford both the MVP award and the Best Passer award. The MVP is debatable. Stafford's getting the Best Passer Award is a joke. PFF totally ignored the most important stat: completion percentage. Stafford had an ordinary 65% while Maye had an astronomical 72% rate. That's a 7% differential; they completely devalued.
Impacting any quarterback statistic is the quality around him, especially his offensive line and receivers. In the regular season, Stafford was sacked only 23 times. Maye, on the other hand, was sacked 47 times. If the math is correct, that's more than double the sacks on Maye. Stafford had a clean pocket to throw from, and Maye didn't.
The Rams' offensive line is far superior to the "work in progress" stopgap Patriots' 2025 O-line. PFF ignored it.
In addition, Stafford had arguably the best receiver in the NFL in Puka Nacua, who received PFF's Best Receiver award. Nacua had 129 receptions for 1,715 yards and 10 touchdowns. Maye's best was Stefon Diggs with 85 receptions for 1,013 yards and four touchdowns. Again, Stafford had the clear edge in who he threw to.
Maye also led the NFL in several other PFF statistics. They were: Total EPA (Expected Points added), 150.3; Total Quarterback Rating, 77.2; Passer Rating at 113.5; and others. PFF conveniently ignored all to give both the MVP and, even worse, the Best Passer Award to the sentimental favorite, the 37-year-old Stafford.
PFF does a disservice to its own reputation by slighting Maye for the Best Passer Award. Giving him a throw-away award as "Breakout Player of the Year is little consolation to Patriot Nation. Yet, there is a positive that will come from PFF's slighting Maye.
The young quarterback, who is in the AFC Championship game in his second season, should be well- motivated to take the field in 2026 with a better offensive line and better weapons and rip the NFL to shreds. Maybe then he'll get the recognition he deserves from PFF and everyone else.