Drake Maye Mvp Patriots Qb Has Earned His Place In The Debate Matt

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 17, 2025, 2:45 AM

drake maye mvp patriots qb has earned his place in the debate matt

FOXBOROUGH — Drake Maye was smiling as he jogged back into the huddle. Not because he’d just ripped off a 28-yard scramble. And certainly not because a section of fans at Gillette Stadium had begun chanting: Maye was actually laughing as his Patriots teammates needled him for his awkward looking slide that ended the run at the Cleveland 39-yard line. On the next play, Maye left nothing to needle. He stepped into a perfect throw down the left side toward the end zone where Kayshon Boutte ran under it.

In two plays that went 67 yards, Maye showed his running and throwing ability. His instincts and athleticism. The chants started again. Longer and louder. Fans across sports have been overusing that chant to pump the tires of the local stars for decades. But this was neither homerism run amok nor premature adulation.

Quarterback Drake Maye led the New England Patriots to their eighth consecutive victory on Thursday night, taking down the New York Jets by double digits and scoring 21 unanswered points before the end of... Maye went 25-for-32 (73.5%) for 281 passing yards and one touchdown. He finished with a QB rating of 107.6, and it marked his fourth consecutive game throwing for 250-plus yards. Maye has a league-leading 2,836 passing yards, 20 touchdowns (tied for second in the NFL) and just five interceptions under his belt through 11 games. With Thursday's win, the Patriots improved to 9-2 on the season, good for first place in the AFC East. On Friday's edition of "The Herd," FOX Sports' Colin Cowherd broke down why he believes Maye is primarily to thank for their recent success and why the 23-year-old deserves to win NFL MVP.

"[In the NFL], winning games comes down to your quarterback making five, six, seven [good] throws or decisions," Cowherd said. "High-level execution. … Mike Vrabel isn't winning that game last night with Justin Fields as his quarterback. After roughly half a decade's absence from real Super Bowl contention, there's no need to deny reality anymore. The 8-2 New England Patriots are back. Doubt Mike Vrabel's bunch at your own risk because they are a wagon.

The biggest reason the Patriots are once again a superpower is the play of second-year quarterback Drake Maye. The former No. 3 overall draft pick has blossomed into a veritable superstar this season. At the time of this writing, Maye is on pace for over 4,300 yards passing, 32 touchdown passes, and just nine interceptions. Oh, and he's also completing nearly 72 percent of his passes with a robust 8.9 yards per pass attempt while sitting No. 2 overall amongst all quarterbacks in composite Expected Points Added (EPA) and Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE).

If I didn't know any better, that sounds like an NFL MVP-caliber season for Maye. Well, that's because it is. The question now is whether Maye really does have a legit shot of winning MVP in just his second season. Outside of Maye's stellar play, the best way to assess this is to see his current competition. Let's take a quick look at the tale of the tape, at the time of publishing: Phil Perry, Tom Curran and Ted Johnson join Michael Holley to offer instant reaction and analysis following the Patriots’ 25-19 win over the Saints.

Drake Maye is the biggest reason the Patriots already have tied their win total from each of the past two seasons. The second-year quarterback led the Patriots to a blowout victory over the Panthers in Week 4, went toe-to-toe and defeated Josh Allen and the Bills in Week 5 and followed it up with a... New Orleans, while not the same caliber of team as Buffalo, presented a tough challenge and it was Maye who propelled New England to a 25-19 victory on Sunday. Stream NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are. It's the first time the Patriots have won three consecutive games since the 2022 campaign. You can always tell when the game slows down for a younger player.

Their movements become more controlled, processing becomes quicker and everything just moves in slow motion. Neo becoming The One in The Matrix, Midorya realizing the full extent of his powers in My Hero Academia, both are examples of when you could tell that the game really slowed down for... You can now add New England Patriots' QB Drake Maye into that conversation. The New England Patriots are 4-2 and sit at the top of the AFC East, and Maye's exponential growth from last season to this one is the biggest reason why. You can look for any metric and Maye is at or near the top of the list: seventh in EPA per play, eighth in Passing Success Rate, fifth in passing yards and tied for... All of this in a year where the offense hasn't fully realized its potential yet, with a sporadic run game and pass protection that has been up and down.

Yet, Maye has this offense top 10 in EPA per play and en route to a playoff push. How he's been able to make the leap from promising to legitimately great this year has been really fun, and it all starts with slowing the game down. The Patriots, despite not having an offense that's necessarily chock full of dynamic playmakers, is built to more maximize Maye's effectiveness as a downfield passer this year compared to 2024. With offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels at the helm, Maye's aggression throwing the ball deep has been unleashed. According to Next Gen Stats, Maye is tied for the third most completions of passes over 20 Air Yards this season and has a blistering +33.1% Completion Percentage Over Expected, second-highest in the NFL... McDaniels is an old-school offensive designer; the Patriots play 12 personnel on 37.08% of their plays this season, sixth-highest in the NFL.

When they get into heavy looks and throw the ball deep, Maye is more than capable of putting in the launch codes downfield. However, what makes him even more dangerous on these plays is the fact that his ball placement is pristine. PFF charts him with zero turnover-worthy plays on passes over 20 air yards. His ability to throw 40-yard handoffs is what separates him from the pack, and that growth has been evident this season. The route by Pop Douglas at the bottom of the screen is sick. Gets Sanker to open to the sideline before breaking back across his face, and a dime by Drake Maye pic.twitter.com/4GutrMZSuY

Maye's downfield aggression is something that traveled with him from 2024, but I think his ball placement on those deep passes has trended upwards as well. Even on passes that were called back due to ghost OPI calls or passes just off the fingertips of WRs like Mack Hollins, Maye is putting them in the bucket, maximizing a wide receiver... WR Kayshon Boutte has been the Pats' best jump ball receiver this year, which is a testament to his growth but also Maye putting passes in the only spot that he could for his... That's not just top tier quarterbacking, it's darn near MVP level. Patriots quarterback Drake Maye had another huge performance Sunday, throwing for 282 yards and three touchdowns in a victory over the Browns. Billie Weiss / Getty Images

FOXBORO, Mass. — Drake Maye claimed he didn’t hear the chants. He claimed his teammates were too busy busting his chops in the huddle over an awkward slide. He acted like it was totally normal for most of the fans in the stadium to be proclaiming their appreciation for New England’s second-year quarterback through those three letters. But here’s the thing. Maye is making absurd things commonplace with the Patriots again.

In a stretch of incredible games, his latest performance might’ve been the best yet. That’s because Sunday was when Maye’s hot start was supposed to cool off a bit. The Cleveland Browns had the best defense in the league. Their defensive line is absurd. Some regression would have been natural. Instead, Maye shook off a slow start to put together another MVP-caliber performance in a 32-13 rout of the Browns, completing 18 of 24 passes for 282 yards (while adding another 50 on the...

His play is the biggest reason the Patriots are 6-2, have won five straight (the longest active winning streak in the NFL) and sit atop the AFC East. Almost two-thirds of the way through the 2025 NFL season, the awards race is heating up. There is much to debate this year and reasons aplenty to be excited by those debates, primarily due to the parity. After cycling through the same old frontrunners for MVP these past few years — Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes — it feels like someone new might emerge this season. And that's great for the sport. From second-year breakout Drake Maye, to a historic campaign from veteran running back Jonathan Taylor, there are a ton of compelling storylines and résumés to sift through.

These awards are as much about narrative as they are production. Much can change over the next eight weeks, of course, but as things sit, here his how the NFL award races shape up in every major category. Truly, what a season it has been for New England Patriots sophomore Drake Maye. An impressive rookie season under less than ideal circumstances still wasn't close to enough to prepare us for the breakthrough that was coming. Maye is completing 71.9 percent of his passes, with 2,836 passing yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions through 11 games. The few command issues we saw last season are resolved.

Maye looks to be in complete control at all times, optimizing his incredible athleticism in and out of the pocket, with enough arm talent to ratchet up the distance and velo when called upon. New England was the most depressing team in the AFC last season, or close to it. Now, the Patriots might mess around and win the AFC title. Same as it ever was. Matthew Stafford is 37 years old, fresh off a contract restructuring, and the man hasn't lost a step. This Los Angeles Rams offense might be the best in the NFL, capable of spreading the defense thin in a 1,000 differeny ways.

Sean McVay deserves his standard credit for offensive genius, but Stafford remains a step ahead of the competition at all times.

Drake Maye Mvp Patriots Qb Has Earned His Place In The Debate Matt

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