Drake Maye

Drake Lee Maye (born August 30, 2002) is an American professional football quarterback for the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, where he was named the ACC Football Player of the Year in 2022 after leading the NCAA in total yards and setting single-season school records in passing yards and touchdowns. Maye was selected third overall by the Patriots in the 2024 NFL draft.

Early life

Maye was born on August 30, 2002, in Huntersville, North Carolina. He attended William A. Hough High School in Cornelius, North Carolina, and transferred after his freshman year to Myers Park High School in Charlotte, where he played football and basketball. He has three brothers, who also played football. Two of his brothers, Luke and Cole, won national championships playing collegiate sports. Maye proved to have a competitive nature with them regarding sports. As a junior in high school, he received All-Conference and All-District honors in basketball and was named ''The Charlotte Observer'' 2019 male athlete of the year after throwing for a school-record 3,512 yards and 50 touchdowns en route to a conference championship appearance. Maye was named a Under Armour All-American in 2020 despite being unable to play his senior season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rated a four-star prospect, Maye committed to play college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide in July 2019 before flipping to North Carolina in March 2020.

College career

As a redshirt in his freshman season for the North Carolina Tar Heels, Maye appeared in four games behind starter Sam Howell in 2021. With Howell leaving for the NFL in 2022, Maye was named the starter prior to the season. In the opening game against Florida A&M, Maye threw five touchdowns and became the first UNC quarterback to do so in his debut. Maye would also record games with four or more total touchdowns against Appalachian State, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, and Wake Forest. He led the team to appearances in the 2022 ACC Championship Game and Holiday Bowl and was named the ACC Player of the Year after leading the NCAA in total offense with 5,019, passing for school-records 4,321 yards and 38 touchdowns while rushing for 698 yards and 7 touchdowns.

In the 2023 season, Maye threw for over 400 yards against Syracuse, Miami, and Campbell. Maye was named second-team All-ACC after passing for 3,608 yards and 24 touchdowns while rushing for 449 yards and nine touchdowns. Maye declared for the 2024 NFL draft following the season. He finished his career fifth in passing yards (8,018) and fourth in passing touchdowns (63) in UNC history.

Professional career

Maye was selected by the New England Patriots as the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. He was the third of a record-tying six quarterbacks taken in the first round (tied with the 1983 draft). Maye signed a four-year fully-guaranteed contract worth $36.64 million on May 28, 2024. Maye was the second consecutive Patriots first round rookie quarterback to choose the number 10, following Mac Jones.

Despite a strong preseason, Maye was named a backup to veteran Jacoby Brissett to begin his rookie season. Maye made his regular season debut in week 3, entering in the fourth quarter of the Patriots' 24–3 road loss to the New York Jets. Maye finished the game, completing four of eight passes for 22 yards and rushing for 12 yards. On October 8, 2024, after the Patriots fell to 1–4 and continued struggles from Brissett, Maye was named the starting quarterback. In his first start against the Houston Texans, Maye completed 20 of 33 passes for 243 yards with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in the 41–21 loss; he also led the team with 38 rushing yards. Maye's three touchdowns were one more than Brissett had thrown in his five 2024 starts, and Maye became the first quarterback since at least 1950 to throw three touchdown passes and lead his team in rushing in his first start. In week 8 against the Jets, Maye recorded a rushing touchdown before exiting the game in the second quarter with a head injury, later diagnosed as a concussion. The Patriots would go on to win 25–22.

Maye's first ten passing touchdowns went to ten different receivers, making him the first NFL quarterback to accomplish that feat since Steve Ramsey did so in 1973.

In January 2025 Maye was selected to play in the 2025 Pro Bowl Games as a replacement for Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

Statistics

Personal life

Maye is the youngest of four brothers: Luke and Beau played basketball at UNC, with the former landing a buzzer beater in the Elite Eight en route to winning the 2017 national championship. Another brother, Cole, was a pitcher on the Florida Gators baseball team that won the 2017 College World Series. Maye grew up family friends with quarterback Mason Rudolph, as their fathers played together at UNC. Maye's father Mark played quarterback at North Carolina (UNC) in the 1980s prior to playing briefly with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Raleigh–Durham Skyhawks.

Maye is good friends with Sam Howell, who preceded him as starting quarterback at UNC. Maye has been in a relationship with Ann Michael Hudson since 2015, having met in high school and attended UNC together, where Hudson's brother backed up Maye on the Tar Heels for a year. On January 15, 2025, the couple announced their engagement.

References

Further reading

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External links

New England Patriots bio

North Carolina Tar Heels bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maye, Drake
2002 births
Living people
American football quarterbacks
New England Patriots players
North Carolina Tar Heels football players
Sportspeople from Huntersville, North Carolina
Players of American football from Charlotte, North Carolina
American Conference Pro Bowl players