Drake Mayes potential this year in fantasy football

Last Thursday, Drake Maye got selected third overall and is intended to be the new franchise QB for the New England Patriots. He is coming off two incredible seasons at the University of North Carolina and is looking to be great for the Patriots this season. The real question is, how will he play this season in the NFL?

At North Carolina last season, Maye threw 3,608 yards, 24 touchdowns, and only 9 interceptions. This may not sound like top-3 worthy, but he had little to no help at North Carolina. He had to carry his team to a record of 8-5. Also, the season before that, Maye had 4,321 passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns. He also had a 66.2 completion percentage and only seven interceptions. Rushing wise, the last two years combined he has had 1147 yards with seasons of 698 and 449 rushing yards. 

This year in fantasy, we would advise you to not pick Drake Maye. We are not saying that he won't be great or have a great career, but this year will just not be his year. He is playing in a touch defensive division with the Bills and Jets defenses. We project for him to crack into the top-30 range of quarterbacks this season, with maybe being top 20. If you do draft Maye though, beware of the struggles he will have in the first weeks, and definitely don't draft him to be your starter. 

He might not even get drafted in your league, so you can pick him up in free agency for very little FAAB, and not wasting a draft pick on him. If you do draft him, make sure the starting quarterback is a safer pick like Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, etc. So, this season is not the year to draft Drake Maye as that will come in the future. But, he still has a lot of potential, so keep an eye out for him.