Drake Maye Follows Tom Brady’s Footsteps in His Second Year With the Patriots

It may have taken them a little bit of time to get the right people around him, but the New England Patriots’ investment in Drake Maye is finally beginning to pay off. Heading into their prime time matchup against the Buffalo Bills, you would have been hard-pressed to find someone confident in their ability to cover the spread, let alone win the game.

Nevertheless, Maye was able to make the most of the opportunities that were given to him, and that ultimately resulted in a 23-20 victory. As a result, New England now has its first 3-2 start since the end of the Tom Brady era, and the UNC product is beginning to put up some similar numbers as well.

After he was able to restore some hope to the Foxborough region, Brady couldn’t help to praise the 23-year-old by suggesting that he’s more than deserving of the Josh Allen comparisons that he had received in the past. “The comparisons to Josh Allen are very real,” Brady noted during his most recent appearance with Colin Cowherd.

Considering that Maye, like many others, was a fan of Brady throughout his childhood, that audio clip will likely mean a lot to him. “I mean the greatest to ever do it,” Maye remarked after he first met with Brady following his selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. “He’s probably up there at No. 1 for me. Anytime you see the best to do it, it’s pretty cool.”

Of course, he’s going to need to compile a lot more wins if he wants those comparisons to go any further, but in the meantime, a win over the current Super Bowl favorites will suffice.

New England will now get a favorable pair of matchups for the next two weeks, as they are set to take on the New Orleans Saints in Week 6 before taking on an equally poor Tennessee Titans team in Week 7. Seeing as both of those squads are currently averaging less than 19 points per game and have a combined total of two wins in the season, New England figures to be holding a 5-2 record by the time they play their next home game in Week 8.

If that proves to be the case, then the franchise would finally be poised to hunt for its first playoff win since 2018, back when Brady was busy collecting his final Super Bowl as a Patriot. Before the beginning of the season, New England had the 17th-longest Super Bowl odds of any team in the league.

After Week 5, however, they now seem like the unofficial dark horse of the AFC. That in and of itself is perhaps the closest that they have come since Brady first decided to pack his bags and head down south, so there truly can not be any underselling of how big a win this was for both Maye and the Patriots organization.