Drake Maye has been busy at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Most top prospects will meet with many teams in Indianapolis for interviews. When a player meets with a team that’s not a surefire sign of that team’s interest in drafting them. But in Maye’s case, all of the interviews he’s doing seem potentially important.
If Caleb Williams settles in as the No. 1 pick to the Chicago Bears, which seems to be the most likely scenario, that sets up Maye as a potential wild card of the draft.
It’s theoretically not out of the question Maye could go first; some have Maye as the QB1 in their draft projections. He could go second to the Washington Commanders. But there are some rumblings that Maye could end up falling past the second pick, without any sure landing spot.
Teams in need of a quarterback are making sure they’re ready just in case.
Drake Maye meets with many teams
Maye was seemingly asked about every NFL team other than the Kansas City Chiefs during his time talking to the media on Friday, and he talked about his meetings with all of them.
Maye smartly praised every one of his potential future employers he was asked about. He said he met with the Bears, and likes Chicago.
Of course Maye met with the Commanders, who have the second pick. Maye said he clicked with new Commanders coach Dan Quinn, who he called “a great guy, and a great coach.”
The Patriots have the third pick and talked to Maye. Maye even said he congratulated new head coach Jerod Mayo on his promotion.
Maye had praise for New York Giants coach Brian Daboll. The Giants have the sixth pick and they could draft a quarterback, despite signing Daniel Jones to a big extension a year ago.
Even the Denver Broncos talked to Maye. The Broncos don’t pick until No. 12, but coach Sean Payton has never been shy about getting aggressive in trading up.
You get it. Maye apparently talked to every NFL team this week and then also the Michigan Showboats and Toronto Argonauts.
Most of it means nothing. Maye could go with one of the first two picks and the other interviews were just a perfunctory fact-finding mission. But all of the interviews, and the interest in what Maye thinks about each of the teams, speaks to the uncertainty over him with less than two months to go before the draft.
Will Maye slide at all?
Maye displayed some fantastic skills at North Carolina, and for a long time was considered a near-lock to be the second pick of the draft. He even started to bubble up to the first pick in some mock drafts. And that could still be the end result.
But LSU’s Jayden Daniels is coming off an exceptional Heisman Trophy season and has put himself in the conversation for a top two pick, or perhaps No. 3 and the Patriots. Perhaps a team with a top three pick takes Marvin Harrison Jr., one of the best receiver prospects ever, and makes it even more confusing.
Maye seems like a player who could go just about anywhere. At this time last year, nobody figured on Will Levis lasting until the second round. Maybe Maye goes very early in the first round. Perhaps he has a bit of a slide.
Either way, seemingly every team that’s in the quarterback market will have spoken with him in person already.