The Truth About Drake Maye – Post Seattle Loss Week 1

While its true in my Top Ten Quarterbacks going into 2026, The Chancellor of Football had Drake Maye ranked fifth. Before folks think I’m going hyperbolic but I warned you with this:

He was rated based upon the way he played in 2025 as a whole and what it projected to in 2026. His playoff performance left a reason to pause but couldn’t erase the equity he built all season.

Well, a few patterns are emerging as we watched them play out in last night’s game. Doesn’t mean his assessment is changing, but it’s time to take notice. In last night’s game, he threw three fourth-quarter interceptions, which was abysmal. Let’s face facts: he kept throwing checkdowns over the middle and out in the flat and played it safe all game. Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels was protecting Maye much like Kyle Shanahan protects Brock Purdy.

A lot of smoke and mirrors with movement, and Maye didn’t throw to all quadrants down the field. He wasn’t going through progressions or coming off first reads to second or third reads downfield.

Very pedestrian.

Yet once the game became tight, he had to make more daring downfield throws and he wound up shaken. He was let down by Romeo Doubs on an open third-down play, but the deep interception intended for Doubs that was tipped was Maye’s blunder. He threw the football high, late and too far inside for Doubs, allowing safety Rodney Thomas II to go up for the jump ball and tip it to cornerback Josh Jobe. Maye never should have thrown that football. It was downhill from there.

[Highlights] All-22 view of Drake Maye’s 3 interceptions in the 4th quarter last night.
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It’s only one game and we can’t overreact, but we have to pay attention to patterns forming. To be fair, losing A.J. Brown may have shaped what OC Josh McDaniels was calling. These contested balls down the sideline, including the final interception, were throws intended for Brown, who was expected to win those contested catches.

With last night’s performance, Maye is now 4-4 against winning teams since the start of 2025. In this graphic, First Things First illustrates that his yards per attempt against winning teams is 7.3. Last year, in my article “The Lie Behind Passer Rating & Other Useless Statistics,” The Chancellor heralded Maye for his gaudy 8.8 yards per attempt, predicting he’d make the Super Bowl, as he was second only to Sam Darnold. Well, yesterday his yards per attempt was a paltry 5.39 yards. Those are the numbers

Dillon Gabriel had 5.1 yards per attempt in 2025, and he was dead last in the NFL.

I warned before the season: Would Maye be able to hang onto the fifth spot in my quarterback ranking? The shine is coming off New England’s new toy. If he continues to play like he did against Seattle, he is looking like an incomplete quarterback—or the second coming of Mac Jones.

Tell me I’m wrong?

We’ll all be watching.

Drake, your mission, should you choose to accept it…