š» Our First 2024 Draft Smokescreen?
Let the games begin...
If you are debating between which QB to start you donāt have a starting QBā¦
In todayās Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by Underdog Fantasy:
- A red herring from the Patriots?
- QB battles taking form
- Rookie Profile: Drake Maye
- Itās 3/25. Take it away, Peter Overzetā¦
The Patriotsā decision with the third overall pick in the 2024 Draft should be very easy:
You take whoever is left between Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels and usher in a new era of New England football with a potential franchise QB.
But as weāve learned over the years, nothing is ever easy when it comes to the Patriots.
New head coach Jerod Mayo seems to be picking up right where Bill Belichick left off with the games and obfuscation:
Sure, Mac Jones was a flop and the Patriots could secure a war chest if they decided to trade back, but that would be very irresponsible.
Jones was the 15th overall pick in 2021 and both Maye and Daniels are considered much, much better prospects (check out Ianās profile of Maye below, by the way).
The Patriots have historically loved trading down, but to what end? The goal will always be to land a franchise QB and itās hard to imagine a better near-term setup to do so than picking No. 3 in a class with three clear top QB prospects.
In this piece on NFL.com, Mayo gushes about the newly-signed Jacoby Brissett and says he could be their starter this year. Brissett is, admittedly, an above-average backup QB, but the key word there is backup.
The Patriots need to stop screwing around, draft Maye or Daniels, and then select WRs until they are blue in the face.
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IT'S ALWAYS DRAFT SEASON ON UNDERDOG!
šŗ The biggest remaining team needsā¦and the best fits for fantasy.
š“āā ļøĀ An update on the Raiders QB battle. They better draft someone.
šøĀ The Titans are going ALL-IN. What an offseason for them.
š¤Ā Will Justin Fields have a chance to compete?Ā Tomlin clarifies some earlier comments.
š¬Ā Watch Tyreek get cooked by one of his campers.Ā Stick to WR, I suppose.
šŖĀ A little early for ābest shape of their livesā posts, eh?Ā Whatever.
š„Ā Could Sam Howell beat out Geno Smith?Ā Mike Macdonald weighs in.
The Draft is a month away, so itās time to cram on these rookies. Today, Ian breaks down one of the best QB prospects expected to go at the top of the draftā¦
šĀ Drake Maye Scouting Report
Underdog ADP:Ā 151 overall (QB22), rookie QB3
Maye arrived at North Carolina as a five-star recruit and next-big-thing inside of a program that has sent Mitchell Trubisky and Sam Howell to starting NFL QB heights over the past seven years.
Obviously, neither of those latter QBs exactly took over the league, but itās hard not to be enamored about Mayeās ability to buck the trend after his three seasons in Charlotte. His 2022 campaign (4,321 pass yards, 38 TDs) was a bit more prolific than the encore in 2023 (3,608 yards, 24 TDs), but maybe thatās just life after losing your top-two WRs to the NFL (Josh Downs, Antoine Green) and dealing with a pretty meh offensive line (and sore ankle) all season long.
Seriously: Mayeās supporting cast last season was the worst of the big-six QBs and a bit of a night-and-day difference when watching the group.
Best/worst Power-5 2023 supporting casts in terms of average team PFF rush, receiving, pass blocking and run blocking grades (everything except passing):
1. Oregon (86.6)Ā
2. LSU (84)Ā
5. Washington (81.3)Ā
...Ā
12. Michigan (79.5)Ā
15. USC (78.3)Ā
...Ā
31. North Carolina (72.8)
Still, even the snap crash back to reality (ope, there goes gravity) wasnāt enough to stop Maye from landing PFFās best overall passing grade over the past two seasons, even if his more traditional efficiency metrics werenāt quite as stellar.
Maye among 89 Power-5 QBs with 300-plus dropbacks 2021-23:
PFF pass grade:Ā 91.6 (No. 1)
Passer rating:Ā 105.4 (No. 25)
Yards per attempt:Ā 8.4 (No. 26)
Adjusted completion rate:Ā 75.3% (No. 24)
9-5 and 8-5 records in 2022 and 2023 reflect the reality that Maye didnāt exactly turn this program into world-beaters, but (like Caleb Williams), the difference between these two QBās defenses and what the rest of the top-2024 signal-callers were working with is pretty much night and day.
Games where their defense gave up 28+ points 2022-23:
Caleb Williams: 18Ā
Drake Maye: 17Ā
Michael Penix: 14Ā
Jayden Daniels: 13Ā
Bo Nix: 8Ā
...Ā
J.J. McCarthy: 1
The two-time team captain leaves North Carolina as someone fully expected to be off the board within the first few picks of the 2024 NFL Draft. Letās dive into why.
The pros and cons of Drake Maye
Everyone zoom in on his notepad