Drake Maye - 2025 Season in Review
- IamCogs
- 7 hours ago
- 8 min read
What a sophomore season it was for Drake Maye and the New England Patriots. After a stellar year two that saw him put up nearly 4,400 yards, 31 touchdowns, complete 72.0% of his passes and turn the ball over just 8 times, Maye and the Patriots found themselves in the Superbowl, where they ultimately fell short in finishing the miracle turn around run, losing the the Seattle Seahawks 29-13, as the the NFC's best defense proved to be too much for Maye and the Patriots.
But expectations both met and exceeded for the 2024 third overall pick, as Maye lead his team to 17 wins on the season, including a 14 win regular season.
Maye lead all graded quarterbacks across many categories charted this year, taking huge steps to elevate his game in his second year. Average game grade, TPR, passer rating, Good+ games, deep level on target %, are all metrics he lead the pack in, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Maye has fantastic quarterbacking traits just a year and a half into his career with the ability to make any throw on the field accurately. He does a good job to get himself out of danger with his legs while using that same mobility to be one of the most efficient scramblers in the league. Overall he has no issues reading defenses pre and post snap and throws with anticipation on a pretty high level.
All these things combine to make Maye, in my opinion, a top five quarterback in the league, and with how he graded out on film this year, it's easy to see just why.
In this review we will take a look at some metrics, some positives, some negatives, some areas of improvement and a 2026 prediction.
The Metrics:
For more on the information presented in the graphic above, click here.
QB Tier: This is my person opinion on where I believe he should be ranked as a quarterback among the 32 starters: Maye was consistently one of the best quarterbacks on the field both statistically and on tape throughout the season, he solidly belongs in the S Tier, among the conversation of top 5 in the league.
Archetype: Pocket Quarterback, with a big heaping of Gunslinger mentality and a dash of Scrambler. Maye's penchant for throwing deep and ability to escape the pocket when plays break down all play into this.
Grade: This is the alphabetical score correlated to his average game score on the year: S, Maye led all graded quarterbacks in average graded scoring, with a very robust 2.45 on the season, recording just 2 games all season that scored worse than average (Week 3 vs. PIT / Week 10 @ TB) while recording a leading 8 games scored good or higher.
Metrics Breakdown
Quarterback ranking for each category is relative to the 7 quarterbacks graded in 2025.
Metric | Description | Value | Rank |
Avg. 1st Half | Average graded score for the 1st half. | 1.20 | 1st |
Avg. 2nd Half | Average graded score for the 2nd half. | 1.17 | t1st |
Avg. Game | Average graded score for a game. | 2.45 | 1st |
Good+ Games | Total Games with final grade "Good" or better. | 8 | 1st |
Bad- Games | Total Games with final grade "Bad" or worse. | 0 | t1st |
TPR | Average True Passer Rating. | 148.8 | 1st |
PFF | PFF Offensive Score for the season. | 90.1 | 1st |
Passer Rating | Season NFL Passer Rating. | 113.5 | 1st |
Adjusted% | Completions + drops / aimed throws (spikes/bats/throwaways excluded.) | 79.6% | 2nd |
On-Target% | Throws that would have hit the intended receiving target (spikes/bats/throwaways excluded.) | 70.4% | 2nd |
Positive Play% | Plays graded Above Average or higher / total snaps. | 25.11% | 1st |
Negative Play% | Plays graded Below Average or lowers/ total snaps. | 19.38% | 1st |
Neutral Play% | Plays graded Average or Ungraded / total snaps. | 55.36% | 2nd |
Turnover% | Plays graded Above Average or higher / total snaps. | 2.06% | 4th |
Big Play% | Great + Elite plays / total snaps. | 8.52% | 1st |
Poor Play% | Poor + Turnover plays / total snaps. | 7.93% | 2nd |
Time to Throw | Average time from when the ball hits the QB's hands to when he releases it. | 2.80 | 2nd |
Time to Pressure | Average time QB experiences or reacts to pressure. | 2.50 | 3rd |
Pressure% | Total pressures / total snaps. | 35.25% | 2nd |
At-Fault Sack% | Sacks deemed QB's fault / total snaps. | 3.23% | 5th |
LOS On-Tar% | On-Tar Throw % behind the line of scrimmage. | 86.9% | 1st |
Short On-Tar% | On-Tar Throw % 1-9 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. | 76.5% | 2nd |
Medium On-Tar% | On-Tar Throw % 10-19 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. | 58.3% | 4th |
Deep On-Tar% | On-Tar Throw % 20+ yards beyond the line of scrimmage. | 50.9% | 1st |
The Good:
I had some decent expectations for Maye moving into the 2025 season, while his 2024 season was overall okay, I felt like there was enough flashes there to really keep an eye on him this year, and boy did it pay off.
Besides the stats (which were no doubt impressive in a season that saw him complete 72.0% of his passes for 4,394 yards, 31 total touchdowns, just 8 turnovers all good for a 113.5 NFL passer rating and a 148.8 TPR.) Maye showcased his talents across the board in 2025 finishing worse than fourth in just 1 major tracked metric/category (at fault sack %).
He has one of the better arms in the NFL and currently, in my opinion, the most complete arm of any 2024 draft quarterback, showcasing his ability to throw with touch, drive the ball when needed, and wit accuracy at all levels of the field. While Maye does have a bit of an elongated throwing motion which can bleed into his time to throw and sack rate, it's still overall efficient and not a major concern when it comes to his game. While he did finish fourth in on target throwing into the intermediate of the field of graded quarterbacks, he still finished in the top half of the league overall there, cementing the fact that Maye can make just about any throw, and do so accurately. He also possesses sneaky mobility and was one of (if not the best) quarterbacks when scrambling. He also does a great job keeping his eyes down field while scrambling, always looking to throw to a receiver who breaks contain due to Maye breaking the contain of the pocket. Maye also reads the field at a level most second year quarterbacks can't, especially given his abbreviated 2024 season, he is very seldom fooled with a defense and is already taking the command of the line of scrimmage at a rate that a 5-6 year NFL veteran would.
Maye generally throws with a good level of anticipation when needed, but can at times double clutch his throw. Though this is not a common issue, or we more than likely would see elevated turnover worthy throw rates.
His TPR numbers were gaudy throughout the regular season, recording a TPR below 100 just twice all season (Week 3, Steelers / Week 10 Falcons) while recording an incredible 9 games with a TPR north of 150, including a 239.7 in week 17 against the Jets, the single highest TPR recorded in the 2025 season. He finished the regular season with a 148.8 average TPR, edging out Matthew Stafford by 3.8 to lead the league in TPR.
His best stretch of the season came between weeks 3 and 8 where he averaged 170.0 TPR, against defenses like the Browns, Saints, Bills and Panthers.
Like mentioned previously, there weren't many tracked categories that Maye didn't lead graded quarterbacks in. He was the best 1st, 2nd, and game average graded quarterback in 2025 showing near equal prowess in both halves (1.20/1.17), he lead the pack in Good+ graded games by a wide margin, collecting 8 including the highest graded game in 2025, anand 8.10 on the road against the Saints. To add to this, he had zero Bad- graded games and just two games in TOTAL that were graded below the average mark.
He finished 2nd in on target and adjusted completion percentages to Jared Goff, but attempted 20+ more deep throws than Goff and had an ADOT of 9.5, a whole 2.5 yards deeper than Goff. All this makes his accuracy an impressive feat as he's not doing it with dink and dunk attempts (in fact of all graded quarterbacks who started 15+ games, Maye finished last in behind the line of scrimmage throws.)
He finished with the best Positive Play% (25.11%), Big Play% (8.52%), and Negative Play% (19.38%), all the while facing the second highest pressure rate among graded quarterbacks (35.25%). Showing his ability to consistently make positively, largely impactful quarterbacking plays despite being under duress at a consistent rate.
He has one of the best deep balls in the league (somewhere in the top three already I would say based off eye test), hitting a 50.9% on target rate for throws 20+ yards downfield, and finishing fourth in the league in adjusted completion % on those throws, hitting on 51.2% there.
The Bad:
In all honesty, for a second year quarterback, there's not a lot to highlight here. But there are some things worth mentioning.
Most of the main concerns stem from the number of sacks Maye takes, and I'm strictly speaking in terms of at fault sacks.
Maye took 47 sacks in 2025, good for the 4th most in the league (he also took an NFL record 21 sacks in the post season giving him a grand total of 68 on the season). His 3.23% at fault sack rate (Sacks deemed QB's fault / total snaps) was the third worst of graded quarterbacks in 2025, and Maye nearly accounted for 50% of his teams sacks on his own (22 of 47 sacks were deemed at fault.)
There is a lot of data out there now days that suggest that a sack is nearly as detrimental to offensive success and EPA as interceptions are. So one major area of concern for Maye is figuring out a way to negate those negatives, being tied for the fifth worst pressure to sack % in the league figures into that greatly. I mentioned before that his slower release can also cause issues here, and while Maye has decent mobility and pocket presence, his ability to extend a play by pure sack avoidance is limited. Generally speaking, when Maye is contacted by a defender, he is going down.
Maye also, interestingly enough, had some struggles with on target balls into the intermediate level of the field, finishing fourth best among graded quarterbacks in 2025 with a 58.3% mark. Now this may be a side effect of Maye attempting difficult level throws most second year quarterbacks dare dream of. As mentioned previously Maye throws a good anticipation ball, and that anticipation comes to light most at this level. At best this is just an interesting caveat to take notice of as we move into the 2026 season.
The Conclusion:
Maye blew my expectations away this year. Watching him as a rookie you saw flashes, but in no world would have I expected a year two jump like this for the Patriots signal caller, a season that ultimately ended in a trip to the Superbowl in what many Patriots fans hope is the revival of the dynasty Tom Brady manicured so well.
With (hopefully) some better weapons coming in 2026, especially at wide receiver, and some help on the offensive line (Maye had sack issues but it wasn't all on him) Maye is poised to take another step. Which is saying a lot considering year two saw him finish second in MVP voting and make a trip to the Superbowl.
Maye already showcases a lot of what a young quarterback needs to succeed in the NFL, and with a few slight improvements, namely in the areas of sack avoidance, and cleaning up his anticipatory throwing just a tad, he has the chance to be in the top three conversation for the next decade to come.
Comments