{"id":260082,"date":"2025-12-22T11:49:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=260082"},"modified":"2025-12-22T11:49:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T16:49:03","slug":"3-stats-that-show-why-drake-maye-should-win-mvp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/12\/22\/3-stats-that-show-why-drake-maye-should-win-mvp\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Stats That Show Why Drake Maye Should Win MVP"},"content":{"rendered":"

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has been in the MVP race for most of the season, and Sunday Night Football’s showdown against the Baltimore Ravens only increased his odds of winning the award. While the game wasn’t his strongest start-to-finish effort, the UNC product saved his best for last. Erasing a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit, Maye completed 12 of his 14 attempts for 139 yards and one touchdown while picking up a game-sealing first down with his legs.<\/p>\n

3 Stats That Show Why Drake Maye is the MVP<\/h2>\n

All in all, it was another great game for one of the league’s most exciting young players. While veterans like Matthew Stafford<\/a> and Josh Allen are having strong seasons<\/a> of their own, the following three stats show why Drake Maye should win the MVP.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: James Lang – Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. 0.197<\/h3>\n

At its simplest, the quarterback’s job is to move the ball down the field efficiently, and nobody is doing that better than Maye. According to RBSDM.com<\/a>, Maye’s 0.197 EPA+CPOE composite grade is best in the league, and he’s comfortably ahead of guys like Allen and Stafford.<\/p>\n

For those unfamiliar with the advanced metrics, EPA\/play quantifies the expected value of each play. For example, if you pick up 10 yards on 3rd and 3, that’s going to be more valuable than getting 11 yards on 3rd and 19. Completion Percentage Over Expectation (CPOE), meanwhile, analyzes the difficulty of the throws the quarterback is making. While it’s not a perfect stat (nothing is), the fact Maye has the best composite grade suggests he’s playing elite football. He’s pushing the ball downfield and making plays despite having one of the league’s weaker supporting casts.<\/p>\n

\"Drake
Dec 14, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) meets Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) on the field after the game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

2. 869<\/h3>\n

Veteran Stefon Diggs leads the team with 869 yards on the season following his dominant game against the Baltimore Ravens. Only one other player has more than 550 yards (Hunter Henry, 663<\/a>). Diggs has played well for his new team, but he’s not the dominant force he once was. The rest of the depth chart, meanwhile, is comprised of solid-but-not-special players like Henry, Kayshon Boutte, Mack Hollins, and Demario Douglas.<\/p>\n

Compare this supporting cast to Matthew Stafford, the primary competition to Drake Maye’s MVP campaign. While Stafford is having a legitimately great season, having weapons like Puka Nacua<\/a> and Davante Adams makes life a little easier. Frankly, the disparity in the supporting casts makes Maye’s season all the more impressive.<\/p>\n

\"Stefon
Nov 9, 2025; Tampa, Florida, USA; New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs (8) celebrates a touchdown with tight end Hunter Henry (85) during the second quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

3. 12-3<\/h3>\n

Historically speaking, you need to win your division to have any realistic shot of winning the MVP, and Drake Maye is on pace to do this. While win-loss record is far from the best way to evaluate quarterback play, history shows that MVP voters care about this sort of thing, and this is good news for Maye.<\/p>\n

At 12-3, the Patriots are in control of the AFC East and should win the division when all is said and done. While anything can happen on any given Sunday, it’s hard to envision this team losing to Brady Cook’s Jets<\/a> or Quinn Ewers’ Dolphins<\/a>. Winning these two games should earn them the second seed, but they could earn home-field advantage if Denver loses either of their next two games.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Drake Maye is the NFL’s most efficient quarterback, is on pace to win his division, and has done it with a team of unremarkable weapons. Stafford and Allen are both to lose their respective divisions, and Stafford has a great supporting cast. All three quarterbacks are fantastic, but Drake Maye is the clear choice for MVP this year.<\/p>\n

\"Drake
Nov 13, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) runs the ball against the New York Jets in the first quarter at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday’s come from behind victory over the Baltimore Ravens showed why New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye should win MVP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":260083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[6431,5],"tags":[10076,7394],"class_list":["post-260082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-teams","category-patriots","tag-drake-maye","tag-new-england-patriots-news"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260082","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\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260084,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260082\/revisions\/260084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}