Drake Maye and 2024 QB Class Skewered By Merril Hoge

“Drake Maye is the kind of player that will get you fired,” Hoge said. “Especially if you draft him in the top five or top three, he’s going to get you fired.” Hoge compared Drake Maye to former Liberty quarterback Malik Willis. Coming out of college, Willis was highly touted but baffled fans when he was not being considered as a top selection in the 2022 draft.

Willis was drafted by the Titans in the third round. In his two seasons, he has played in 11 games with 350 passing yards, three interceptions, and no touchdown passes. “Malik Willis might be the only other guy that is as erratic as Drake Maye,” says Hoge. 

Merrill Hoge has studied Drake Maye for the last two years, including every game of the 2023 season, and in his assessment, Maye’s best game was the Pitt game (41-24 victory for the Tar Heels), and even then “it was an average game.” Drake’s last game against NC State (39-20 victory for the Wolfpack) was “the most embarrassing display I’d ever seen from a guy who’s supposed to be an elite franchise quarterback.” Ouch.

When watching Drake Maye, Hoge says he lumbers. “People think his athleticism will translate but people want him to run and they will bust him up,” Hoge said. “He is not athletic enough. If he doesn’t get down and learn how to do that, he won’t last until Week 10.”

Hoge said you could put a highlight reel together showing Maye making some really impressive throws, he just can’t make them on a consistent basis in college. And if he isn’t already making those throws against a “vanilla scheme” then there is “no way on planet Earth he’s doing it in the NFL.”

From college to the NFL “is too monumental of a jump, and there are too many things you have to work on and be detailed on. And don’t forget about working and learning the offensive plays he’s expected to execute and run and the defensive schemes you have to study up on that the opposing teams will be throwing at you.”

As mentioned earlier, if these players want to be successful in the NFL, they need to get over themselves. When Hoge heard Drake Maye say it was better to game plan with him than against him, Hoge knew, “he has no idea, absolutely no idea what he’s walking into. People would love to gameplan against him and exploit his weaknesses and disturb him.” 

Hoge explained that “about 70% of all throws in the NFL are made in a ‘dirty pocket,’ meaning there is traffic all around you, congestion, you’re not just standing there like in college” with not many people milling about behind the line. “And he doesn’t function in that, he doesn’t even function in a clean one,” continued Hoge.

Concluding his thoughts on Drake Maye, Hoge said, “If i was the GM of an organization with a top-five pick, I wouldn’t draft him. I wouldn’t do that to my organization.”

Hoge’s Thoughts on J.J. McCarthy

Regarding J.J. McCarthy and the Michigan Wolverines, Hoge said that what they did in Michigan is probably the first layer of how you would develop a guy in the NFL. 

Hoge went on, explaining, “Michigan ran a lot of Play Action and Run Action and they dominated the football games, they dominated the line of scrimmage and half-field reads. And even in that process in college where it’s simplified you would not walk away going, ‘wow that guy really tears that up and he’s impressive.’ His accuracy is ok, but it’s not anything spectacular. The processing of that is ok and questionable at times at the college level. He’s just ok.”

And Hoge isn’t convinced that either Maye or McCarthy have the level of skills needed to be a successful playcaller in the NFL. When asked if Hoge were advising teams in the Top 10, would he advise them to move up to draft a quarterback? “Not this group.” Although noting he hasn’t looked at every player, but promises this: there is somebody else in this draft, from a wide receiver perspective, edge rusher, tackle, that could help a football team and make that team a better football team, then take a crack at (Spencer) Rattler in the second round or third round.”

Regarding Spencer Rattler, Hoge says Rattler is an interesting prospect who has “learned a lot about how he was in college, he’s matured through it and he has some skills that actually are interesting and intriguing to [him].” In Rattler, Hoge sees a guy who “has grown, evolved, and matured. Take him in the second round and there are zero expectations. You pick one of those other guys I mentioned and I’ll take Rattler in the second and I’ll get me someone better with the 11th pick that can help the football team and is a better football player than those two quarterbacks.”

Hoge finished his interview by reminding us that teams win championships and if a team picks a quarterback or reaches for somebody that’s not high quality, the team can suffer for years down the road.