Mack Brown believes Drake Maye will make one NFL team very lucky

North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye.

There’s a ton of hype around assumed No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams out of USC.

It makes sense too. He’s a former Heisman Trophy winner and has all the tools scouts look for in a modern NFL quarterback. He can throw the ball at a high level but is also athletic enough to make defenses pay with his feet. Throw in the ability to throw on the run and you’re looking at a potential franchise-altering quarterback.

That’s why the Chicago Bears are expected to take Williams No. 1 overall on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean the team that will draft North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is getting the conciliation price.

Of course his coach, Mack Brown, is hyping Maye up in week leading up to the draft, but Brown does have a point. Maye has the potential to be just as good as Williams wherever he ends up — and potentially even better.

“Drake’s accomplished everything that you could expect him to in two years. I can’t imagine what would happen if he stayed four. Can’t even imagine, but he’s too good,” Brown told the media (h/t On3). “He can’t stay, and somebody’s going to really, really lucky to get him.”

Maye is 6-foot-4, 230 pounds and is a throwback to the big, tall, pocket-passer quarterback that used to dominate the league. That’s not to say he’s not athletic, though. He rushed for 698 yards and seven rushing touchdowns in 2022 and followed that up with 449 yards and nine rushing touchdowns in 2023.

That was on top of a combined 7,929 passing yards and 62 touchdowns thrown in those two seasons with just 16 interceptions.

Maye projects to be good. So good, in fact, that there’s a realistic world in which he’ll go No. 2 overall to the Washington Commanders.

Williams will get all the type on Thursday, but don’t forget about Maye.

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