The Patriots are a surprising 8-2, and it’s due in no small part to their second-year quarterback. Through 10 games, Drake Maye is completing over 70% of his passes for 255 yards per game with a 19-5 TD-INT ratio and a 113.9 passer rating. He’s also run for 283 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The most impressive thing about Maye’s play, however, is his substantial improvement from college in less than 2 years. His physical talent has always been there, but the precision and nuance to his game have been increasing fast.
Below I dive into over 35 plays from his first 10 games of the 2025 season to show you what he’s been doing so well and where there’s still room for growth.
(These film sessions are available with a Founding Member subscription, which also gets you access to our playbook that has more than 80 breakdowns grouped by concept (e.g. passing game, running game, situational, coverages, pressures, etc.) and hundreds of examples from NFL games.)
Great Ball Placement
Erratic was the way I’d characterize Maye’s ball placement in college. He sprayed the ball all over the field at times and frequently missed the lay-ups. Normally, that doesn’t improve when you get to the NFL.
Suddenly, it’s no longer an issue, though. In fact, Maye has not only improved in this department, he’s one of the best in the NFL right now at putting the ball exactly where he wants to with pinpoint accuracy:
He’s one of the few QBs who can consistently drill the ball into that cover-2 hole if he wants, like he did here to set up the Pats’ game-winning field goal against Buffalo in Week 5: