New Patriots quarterback Drake Maye receives high praise from rising NFL star

There is always a lot of debate in the months leading up to every year's new NFL Draft about who the best players are of the incoming class. The debate is broken down further when discussing each position, and it's not often that a consensus is made about who the best overall is, especially at quarterback.

Outside of Caleb Williams, who had been the presumed No. 1 pick for the last six months, the order of best quarterbacks to follow had been heavily debated. It was a constant interchanging between Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye, and then, in recent weeks, J.J. McCarthy was thrown into the mix, with some projecting him to go as high as third off the board.

That's not what happened, though, as Daniels went to the Commanders with the second pick and Maye to the Patriots with the third. But that order doesn't necessarily reflect who the more talented or NFL-ready player is. We won't know that until we see them on the field.

New Patriots quarterback Drake Maye receives high praise from rising NFL star

Interestingly, rising star quarterback C.J. Stroud, who put the Texans back on the map during his rookie year in 2023, believes the Patriots are the team that got the most pro-ready player with Maye, which is certainly music to fans' ears.

During Bleacher Report's draft show on Thursday night, the quarterback shared his opinion, picking Maye as his favorite quarterback of this year's class. He detailed what he likes most about how the former UNC signal-caller plays, mentioning his arm talent and crediting him for having good instincts when scrambling.

"I feel like Drake Maye is (the most NFL-ready). You watch his tape, just his arm talent jumps off."

Stroud's evaluation of Maye is spot-on, and much of what he said is likely why the Patriots wanted to draft him.

What makes his assessment even more interesting is the discussion of New England following Houston's rebuilding model over the last few years, which ultimately helped make Stroud a successful player right away. The hope is the new regime in Foxboro will do the same for Maye instead of setting him up to fail, which would be how the Mac Jones era could be described.

Based on how Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf drafted over the weekend, selecting all but one offensive player, it looks like that's the plan set in motion. Whether or not Maye will be a day-one starter is unclear, but at least the team is doing the work to make his transition and eventual start go as smoothly as possible.

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