2024 NFL Draft: Tackling the Biggest Narratives Surrounding this Year's Quarterback Class

3. Drake Maye is an inaccurate passer

This is a complicated take to dissect because, in some ways, it’s true. Drake Maye does not have exceptional accuracy as his accuracy rate across his two seasons at North Carolina was just 75.3%, which ranks ninth in this year’s class and is 64th percentile for quarterback prospects since 2017.

His college accuracy rate was solid, but nothing special. However, we need to look at some more context to understand why this is the case.

One of the more obvious reasons why his accuracy is lower than you might expect from a top prospect is because he was launching the ball down the field at North Carolina. His career average depth of target in college was 10.7 yards, which ranks in the 79th percentile. He also attempted a ton of passes 20+ yards down the field. In fact, these kind of throws made up 18.1% of his career pass attempts, which ranks in the 75th percentile.

He was very accurate on deep throws, sporting an accuracy rate of 54.7% on throws down the field, which ranks 6th since 2017. He was also very accurate on short throws, sporting an accuracy rate of 84.8% on these pass attempts, which ranks in the 83rd percentile.

Where his accuracy falls off is on intermediate throws and against blitzes. On throws 10-19 yards down the field, he had an accuracy rate of 65%, which is above average, but ranks in the 69th percentile. His accuracy against blitzes is quite poor, though, as he had an accuracy rate of just 67.5% (16th percentile) in these situations. 

Overall, Drake Maye is a fairly accurate passer. In fact, his accuracy is great on short and deep throws. However, his accuracy tumbles a bit on intermediate throws, and it completely nosedives when he faces a blitz. The idea that he is inconsistent in terms of accuracy is accurate to some degree, butt less concerning when you consider how often he throws it deep down the field and how his accuracy compares to other quarterback prospects we’ve seen since 2017.

Also, it must be stated that he is not an inaccurate passer like other young gunslingers we’ve seen over the years including Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Anthony Richardson. His accuracy simply isn’t elite, which isn’t a huge problem considering the rest of his profile is off the charts.