Patriots reporter makes bold claim about Drake Maye's future

There is always a lot said about newly drafted players and how their careers will turn out before they even take a real snap in the NFL, especially quarterbacks. Many conclusions have already been made about Drake Maye's future with the Patriots, from believing he could be their legitimate next franchise quarterback for several years to some predicting he will be a bust in short order.

At this point, we won't know what kind of player he will become but he's already looking impressive at OTAs, which is certainly a good sign.

Despite being incredibly early in his NFL career, the projections keep coming from analysts and fans attempting to be the first to say something years in advance in hopes of being right at some point in the future.

While many of those takes are not the most positive, the latest prediction from Boston Sports Journal's Mike Giardi is beyond optimistic, which is a nice change from those affiliated with the New England sports media.

Mike Giardi believes Drake Maye will make an impressive third-year jump in 2026

During an appearance on fellow Patriots reporter Andrew Callahan's "Pats Interference" podcast last week, Giardi was asked where he thought Maye would be in his career by 2026.

Giardi was quick to share what he believes will be a third-year jump for the quarterback, going as far as calling it Josh Allen-like. He also believes he will be good enough to earn Pro Bowl honors that season.

He leveled out his optimism by stating that the hype around Maye will be heard, but he will revert to normalcy with mistakes and losses that will convince onlookers he is not as good as he might have looked over time.

Even if the last part is a bit too pessimistic, it would be great if the rest of Giardi's prediction was correct. The third year for a quarterback is traditionally considered one of the most important seasons of their career, with most showing a dramatic improvement from years prior.

If Maye displays that at age 24, it would be a good sign for the Patriots as they navigate through a rebuild and hope to be a contender by then.

It's certainly a bold claim, yet not out of the realm of possibilities. It's difficult to predict what will become of Maye or the Patriots under the new leadership of Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf; it's not like making educated guesses when Bill Belichick was still running the show.

So the possibilities are endless until proven otherwise, including an Allen-esque jump in production from Maye.

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