Drake Maye can accomplish feat in third season that Tom Brady never did for Patriots

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Drake Maye can accomplish feat in third season that Tom Brady never did for Patriots originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

For as long as he's the quarterback of the New England Patriots, everything Drake Maye does will be compared to Tom Brady.

It might not seem fair to compare what a third-year quarterback is doing to the greatest of all time, but that's what comes with the territory of being the New England Patriots' starter, and that will never change.

Ahead of his third season in the NFL, Maye has a chance to separate himself from Brady in one category: completion percentage.

Maye led the NFL in that statistic last season, completing 72% of his passes.

If he can lead the league again in 2026, Maye would become the first Patriots quarterback in franchise history to do so, and just the sixth player since 1970, according to ESPN's Mike Reiss.

"If Maye leads the NFL completion percentage for a second straight season, he will become the first Patriots player to accomplish the feat and the sixth NFL player since 1970 to do so, joining Joe Montana (1980-81), Ken Anderson (1982-83), Steve Young (1994-97), Kurt Warner (1999-2001) and Drew Brees (2009-2011, 2017-2019)," Reiss said.

Brady led the league in completion percentage once during his career, and that came with the Pats back in 2007, when he connected on 68.9% of his passes.

Drake Maye's 2026 outlook​

Maye raised the bar for himself considerably last season after finishing as an MVP runner-up to Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and leading the Patriots to the Super Bowl.

Maye threw for 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns to eight picks and is on the doorstep of being considered among the league's elite quarterbacks if he can replicate his success.

"I think the underrated thing he has this year is obviously going into Year 2 in the system is big," Patriots tight end Hunter Henry said this offseason. "This system demands a lot on the quarterback position. To have a whole offseason to be in the same scheme and really build on what he did last year, I'm excited to see the jump and progress he can make on a day-to-day basis."

One concern for Maye is the wide receiver position, which has some question marks.

New England cut ties with Maye's No. 1 wide receiver Stefon Diggs due to his ballooning contract, leaving Maye without a true top target.

The team has since signed Romeo Doubs in free agency, but that's hardly a one-for-one replacement for the 1,000-yard receiver, as Doubs is more of a No. 2 option in an offense and has never tallied more than 724 yards in a campaign, which he did last season.

If nothing changes, Maye will have a top four of Doubs, Boutte, DeMario Douglas and the unproven Kyle Williams, which is less than inspiring.

However, the expectation is the Patriots will trade forPhiladelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown at some point after June 1, a trade that would give Maye a better group of targets on paper than he had last season, even if the team turns around and trades Boutte after acquiring Brown.

If New England can pull off that trade, Maye will be in a much better position to succeed in 2026.

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