{"id":109956,"date":"2025-10-20T08:57:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T08:57:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=109956"},"modified":"2025-10-20T08:57:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T08:57:35","slug":"%f0%9f%94%a5-patriots-in-panic-or-paradise-drake-maye-is-cooking-defenses-rewriting-the-rookie-rulebook-and-flirting-dangerously-close-with-top-5-qb-territory-as-the-league-starts-to-take-notice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=109956","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udd25 PATRIOTS IN PANIC OR PARADISE: Drake Maye is cooking defenses, rewriting the rookie rulebook, and flirting dangerously close with Top-5 QB territory as the league starts to take notice\u2026ll"},"content":{"rendered":"<section>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h3><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dims.apnews.com\/dims4\/default\/e2d1e34\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4713x3142+0+0\/resize\/599x399!\/quality\/90\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Ffc%2Fc1%2F58de0c63a932289f1bf4ba90451e%2F9d8aab369fe845e8862bf2232652e2ab\" alt=\"Drake Maye dazzles with late TD to get Patriots into OT before game-ending  interception | AP News\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3>Is Maye a top-5 NFL QB right now?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div data-analytics-datalayer-category=\"ArticleHeaderDetails\">\n<p>Colin Keane 5 Hours Ago3 Min Read<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div id=\"primary\"><main id=\"mainContent\" role=\"main\"><\/p>\n<article id=\"post-2046158\">\n<div data-analytics-datalayer-category=\"ArticleContentDetails\"><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??--><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??-->Is New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye a top-five QB in the entire NFL right now? Maye continued his hot second season in Week 7. In leading the Pats to a 31-13 win over the Tennessee Titans in Nashville, Maye was 21-of-23 in the air for 222 yards and two TDs, his 91.3 completion percentage breaking a franchise record previously held by Tom Brady (88.5 percent).<\/p>\n<p>Maye now has 12 passing touchdowns to just two interceptions in 2025. He\u2019s thrown for 1,744 yards at a completion clip of 75.2. He has a 77.2 QBR and a 116.4 passer rating. Are you not entertained?<\/p>\n<figure>\n<blockquote data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<div dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">\n<p>It&#8217;s not even that controversial to call Drake Maye a top 5 quarterback right now. Certainly not among those currently playing.<\/p>\n<p>1. Mahomes<br \/>\n2. Mayfield<br \/>\n3. Allen<br \/>\n4. Maye<br \/>\n5. Dak<\/p>\n<p>Lamar, Daniels, Burrow when healthy. Darnold, Goff &amp; Daniel Jones also in the mix.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/John_Zannis\/status\/1980091906064621992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1980091906064621992%7Ctwgr%5Ef48d2dfebb88b043463e0ba6bf296af580e8aa2f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnesn.com%2F2025%2F10%2Fpatriots-drake-maye-flirting-with-top-5-nfl-qb-status-right-now%2F<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The season is still young, and Maye hasn\u2019t been playing at his current level for more than a month. There will be plenty of overreactions about Maye\u2019s excellence this week. At the end of the day, his sample size is still way too small for Maye to be considered on the level of a guy like Josh Allen, or even Baker Mayfield, who has made two consecutive Pro Bowls.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, there is something to be said about who is playing the best football in the immediate present, and very few NFL QBs \u2014 if any \u2014 are throwing the football better than Maye right now. His efficiency is astounding for his age, and his fearless mindset combined with his arm strength and accuracy have already made him an elite deep threat far sooner than anyone assumed, even the staunchest of Maye supporters.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<blockquote data-dnt=\"true\" data-width=\"500\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Drake Maye is the first QB in NFL history with five games with an 80+ completion percentage in his first two career seasons, per the NFL.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByMarkDaniels\/status\/1980083334442041624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1980083334442041624%7Ctwgr%5Ef48d2dfebb88b043463e0ba6bf296af580e8aa2f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnesn.com%2F2025%2F10%2Fpatriots-drake-maye-flirting-with-top-5-nfl-qb-status-right-now%2F<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The only thing left for Maye to do is stay consistent, which is easier said than done. New England doesn\u2019t have a robust upcoming schedule, but each week will be a potential trap game.<\/p>\n<p>For the next 24 hours or so, it\u2019s worth sitting back and appreciating that Maye has legitimately exceeded expectations at this point in his career, even for a No. 3 overall pick.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/main><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has his team off to a 5-2 record, and he&#8217;s playing like an MVP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":109957,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - 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