The 2024 NFL Draft class has a great chance of ending up as one of the best ever after a number of players shined brightly this season.

When the season began, quarterback Drake Maye, who was the No. 3 overall pick, didn’t start for the New England Patriots, and he played in just one game before head coach Jerod Mayo decided to make him the starter in Week 6.

Maye went on to look like the worthy heir apparent to Tom Brady the Patriots have been searching for since the legend left New England.

Despite being the third QB drafted, behind Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, the rookie’s reputation preceded him into the league.

“Drake Maye in the NFL has a little bit of like a mythical reputation. He was the guy everybody wanted in the draft,” NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport said, via Carlos A. Lopez.

While at the University of North Carolina, Maye threw for 4,321 yards and 38 touchdowns in 2022, and he followed that up with 3,608 passing yards and 24 passing touchdowns while adding nine touchdowns on the ground in 2023.

In his first NFL start, against the Houston Texans, he showed promise by completing 20 of 33 pass attempts for 243 yards, and though he threw two interceptions, he also had three passing touchdowns.

Plenty felt that starting him was a bad idea because New England had a very porous offensive line, but Maye held up the rest of the way and finished the season with 2,276 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns and a 66.6 percent completion rate.

He is thought to be a little behind in his development when it comes to fundamentals, but he has given a poor Patriots team a real glimmer of hope moving forward.