{"id":236943,"date":"2025-06-17T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=236943"},"modified":"2025-06-17T01:35:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T05:35:21","slug":"drake-maye-an-ideal-late-round-quarterback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/17\/drake-maye-an-ideal-late-round-quarterback\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Maye: An Ideal Wait on Quarterback Draft Target"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are back to work with our 2025\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/fantasy\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">fantasy<\/a> draft prep series. We have not touched much on quarterbacks, but we have a player we are targeting for those who like to wait on position. Drake Maye has a QB1 finish within his potential range of outcomes this season. Based on the statistical data, personnel and coaching changes in New England, Maye is set up to take the next step. Keen fantasy managers have begun formulating strategies and identifying player values. Our loyal LWOS followers know, if you have not begun fantasy draft preparations, you are behind!<\/p>\n<h2>Drake Maye: An Ideal Wait on Quarterback Draft Target<\/h2>\n<h3>Maye Was a Top-15 Quarterback From Week Six on<\/h3>\n<p>Drake Maye took over as the Patriots&#8217; starting quarterback in week six and was a very servicable fantasy quarterback. The top-15 performance during the span may not convince anyone, but as we looked closer at the data, it was very encouraging. In the 11 games that Maye started, he averaged just under <a href=\"https:\/\/fantasydata.com\/nfl\/drake-maye-fantasy\/24958\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">16<\/a> fantasy points per game. If we take out the December 28 game versus the Chargers, where Maye was injured and missed time, that per-game average jumped to 16.5.<\/p>\n<p>To put that in perspective, last season overall <a href=\"https:\/\/fantasydata.com\/nfl\/fantasy-football-leaders?scope=season&amp;sp=2024_REG&amp;position=qb&amp;scoring=fpts_ppr&amp;order_by=fpts_ppr&amp;sort_dir=desc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">QB12<\/a> was Patrick Mahomes, who averaged 17.7 fantasy points per game. So Maye is not that far off. Right now, on Underdog and Drafters&#8217; best ball drafts, Maye goes off the boards as the QB 15. He certainly has the potential to outproduce his ADP and making him a solid value in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Drake Maye flashed some ability with limited offensive weapons. His <a href=\"https:\/\/fantasydata.com\/nfl\/fantasy-football-leaders?scope=season&amp;sp=2024_REG&amp;position=qb&amp;scoring=fpts_ppr&amp;order_by=rush_yds&amp;sort_dir=desc\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">421<\/a> yards rushing ranked ninth in fantasy among qualifying quarterbacks, and he did that in only 11 starts. If we use Mahomes&#8217; 17.7 per-game number as a baseline QB1 number, Maye hit that mark in six of his 11 starts.<\/p>\n<h3>The Coaching and Personnel Changes Should Enhance Maye&#8217;s Fantasy Production<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_237028\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-237028\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-237028\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Drake-Maye-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Drake Maye\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Drake-Maye-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Drake-Maye-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Drake-Maye-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Drake-Maye-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Drake-Maye-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Drake-Maye-1-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/06\/Drake-Maye-1-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-237028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jun 9, 2025; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) holds a press conference after minicamp at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With the addition of Josh McDaniels as the new <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/haydenwinks\/status\/1932829256809386327?s=12&amp;t=scp-a3pJRflU5KTyR39Kog\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">offensive coordinator<\/a> in New England, Maye should see more called or designed <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/18\/fantasy-quarterback-takeaways-from-the-2024-season-part-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">quarterback<\/a> runs. Maye posted 38.27 rushing yards per game in his 11 starts. Across a 17-game season, that number prorates to 650 rushing yards per game. That would have put Maye third, behind only Lamar Jackson and Jayden Daniels. The &#8216;cheat code&#8217; potential alone puts Maye in the QB1 conversation.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots added to their offensive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/team\/depth\/_\/name\/ne\/new-england-patriots\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weaponry<\/a> with the addition of Stefon Diggs and the drafting of a legit three-down back in TreVeyon Henderson. Diggs gives the New England offense a true alpha wide receiver and allows Demario Douglas to move to the WR2 role, more suited to him. Douglas led the Patriots in targets, catches, and receiving yards in 2024. Reports have indicated that Maye has shown well at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/nfl\/news\/2025-nfl-ota-and-minicamp-takeaways-drake-maye-has-impressive-first-day-at-patriots-camp-ravens-wr-shines\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OTAs<\/a> and is picking up the new offense.<\/p>\n<p>A point of emphasis for us is that we are here to provide you players that can be draft values and potential league winners at the back end of your <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/12\/two-late-round-fantasy-running-backs-you-should-be-drafting\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">fantasy drafts<\/a>. Best ball formats are in full swing, and NFL training camp and season-long draft season are right around the corner. Drake Maye represents a potential QB1 currently going at the end of the ninth round in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/06\/12\/sleepers-for-2025-fantasy-football-drafts\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">fantasy<\/a> drafts right now. Draft Drake Maye, and you can thank us at LWOS later!<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Image: Eric Canha &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Drake Maye has a QB1 fantasy finish within his potential, based on the statistical data and the personnel and coaching changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5440,"featured_media":237026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,5],"tags":[33430,7394],"class_list":["post-236943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","category-patriots","tag-2025-fantasy-football","tag-new-england-patriots-news"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5440"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236943"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":237029,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236943\/revisions\/237029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}