FANTASY FOOTBALL NEWS

Door Open For Drake Maye to Start Week 1?

By Jared Smola | Updated on Fri, Aug 16 2024 3:18 PM UTC

Patriots HC Jerod Mayo said after Thursday night's preseason game that "the competition isn't over" for the starting QB job. Mayo added that QB Drake Maye has made strides but that the operation still needs to be faster with the rookie, per Evan Lazar of the team's official website.

What They're Saying

More Mayo on Maye's performance: "Had great composure. I thought it was a good drive. I thought he went out there and did a lot of good things. Hopefully he can build on that and we’ll see how this week goes.”

2024 Fantasy Football Impact

Maye was clearly New England's best QB on Thursday night.

QB Jacoby Brissett got the start but threw for just 17 yards with a bad red-zone INT across three possessions.

Maye finished 6-of-11 for 47 yards but played much better than those numbers suggest. WR Javon Baker dropped two perfectly thrown deep balls from Maye that would have combined for close to 100 yards. The rookie also scrambled twice for 11 yards and scored this four-yard TD on a read-option.

Maye will certainly be under center for New England at some point this season. The only question is when it happens. It sounds like there's a better chance now than there was 24 hours ago that Maye will win the Week 1 job. He still has another three weeks to pass Brissett on the depth chart.

Rankings Movement

We're not adjusting our Patriots QB projections just yet -- we have Maye slated to take over in Week 5 -- but will continue to keep a close eye on the situation.

Jared Smola, Lead Analyst

Jared has been with Draft Sharks since 2007. He’s now Lead Analyst, heading up the preseason and weekly projections that fuel your Draft War Room and My Team tools. He currently ranks sixth among 158 analysts in draft rankings accuracy.