By means of the primary seven weeks of the season, there are only a few quarterbacks within the NFL taking part in in addition to Drake Maye.
The New England Patriots‘ signal-caller is 152 of 202 (75.2%) for 1,744 yards (8.6 per try), 12 touchdowns and two interceptions, and he is added 200 yards and two extra scores on 44 carries. He leads the NFL in completion proportion and passer ranking, whereas rating third in yards per try and second in anticipated factors added (EPA) per dropback, through Tru Media. He additionally checks in with the NFL’s seventh-lowest turnover-worthy play charge, in response to Professional Soccer Focus, with solely 5 such performs all yr.
The very best half about his begin is that none of it has been strictly situational. He is tearing it up from a clear pocket and when underneath stress, towards man and zone protection, inside and outdoors the pocket, within the fast sport and on prolonged dropbacks, on brief, intermediate and deep throws, along with his arm and along with his legs. He is doing every part effectively.
Probably the most spectacular function of his sport up to now has been the deep ball. It’s simply electrical when he unleashes the rock down the sphere. He’s lapping the remainder of the league relating to deep throws. In line with Tru Media, Maye is averaging 1.27 EPA per dropback on throws of 15-plus air yards. The subsequent-closest participant (Jalen Hurts) is at simply 0.99 EPA per dropback.
Maye is finishing SIXTY-SEVEN POINT FIVE PERCENT of these passes. The league common is a paltry 41.5%. He’s layering the ball over the second degree of the protection, hitting gap photographs in between the zones, launching it excessive of everybody, making second-reaction performs when the pocket will get muddied and nonetheless discovering a technique to hit an enormous play, firing the ball on the appropriate shoulder with a view to hold it away from closing defenders… it is all there on the tape.
It is a vital enchancment from final yr, when Maye went simply 14 of 49 on deep passes for your entire season. (That is a 28.6% completion charge, and he ranked thirty third in EPA per dropback on these throws.) He already has practically twice as many deep completions (27) as he did a yr in the past, in addition to 1.5 instances as many yards (685) and the identical variety of touchdowns (5).
A few of the year-to-year efficiency on deep balls could be a little bit luck-based, however you may see simply how locked in Maye is when he is attacking these areas of the sphere; it appears like actual, sustainable enchancment. He nearly actually will not hold hitting these passes at this excessive a charge, but it surely certain looks as if we should always count on him to be among the many higher deep throwers within the league, except one thing adjustments about the best way he is taking part in the place.
The best way Maye is taking part in towards stress can also be spectacular. He is simply calm again there. He is in a position to cling within the pocket and discover late shops. He is in a position to slide by way of the muck and purchase time for his guys to get open. He is in a position to roll out of the pocket (particularly to his proper) and create on the transfer, turning potential detrimental performs into constructive ones. And he is in a position to stick his again foot within the floor and ship a strike rapidly whereas the frenzy bears down on him.
Because of this, Maye checks in sixth in EPA per dropback when underneath stress, per Tru Media. He is certainly one of simply six passers finishing at the least 55% of his throws when underneath duress, he is averaging 8.3 yards per try (an elite quantity in all conditions, not to mention when pressured) and he is creating first downs on the league’s fifth-highest charge on his pressured throws.
His athleticism additionally permits him to make issues occur along with his legs when the pocket breaks down. He is been one of the vital efficient scramblers within the NFL to date this season, speeding for 29 instances (second-most within the NFL) for 193 yards (fourth-most within the NFL) and creating 14.62 EPA (additionally fourth-most within the NFL). He does a very nice job of each escaping to the perimeter and stepping up and thru the pocket earlier than taking off.
And actually, that is all of the laborious stuff. Throwing deep, creating underneath stress inside and outdoors the pocket, taking off away from enclosing defenders — this isn’t 101 degree soccer. It is superior stuff. And he is excelling in any respect of it.
Nevertheless it’s the simple stuff that kinds the baseline for achievement, and that offers him one thing to construct upon. And whereas the simple stuff is, usually, simpler than the laborious stuff, it isn’t like everybody within the league makes it look simple. There are many quarterbacks who make the simple stuff look troublesome. Maye is not certainly one of them.
When throwing from a clear pocket, he is 111 of 137 for 1,192 yards, eight touchdowns and only one interception. He is first within the league in completion proportion over expectation in these conditions, in response to NFL Professional, and second in complete EPA. Maye is hitting brief passes at a particularly excessive charge, finishing 80% of his passes inside 10 yards of the road of scrimmage, once more in response to NFL Professional, and creating the fifth-most complete EPA on these throws. He is additionally 73 of 89 for 608 yards, six touchdowns and only one decide on throws inside 2.5 seconds of the snap, good for a 115.7 quarterback ranking and essentially the most complete EPA by a big margin (42.7 in contrast with 29.8 for second-place Daniel Jones).
If you’re doing each the simple stuff and the laborious stuff at a excessive degree, you appear to be among the best gamers in soccer. And that is what Maye has seemed like to date. This coming weekend, he’ll face what is probably going his hardest take a look at of the season up to now within the Cleveland Browns protection. Cleveland has among the best go defenses and greatest defensive fronts within the NFL. The Browns will put Maye constantly underneath stress. They will cowl effectively. They usually’ll power him to create in precisely the identical methods he has to date this yr.
If he passes that take a look at simply as he has handed all of the others, it’ll solely additional verify his new standing amongst sport’s greatest quarterbacks.
