Dan Orlovsky proposes Drake Maye sitting behind a starter similar to Jordan Love
Former ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge grabbed some headlines this week after saying that he would not draft North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye in the first round of the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft. Calling Maye extremely inconsistent and not extremely athletic despite being regarded by most evaluators as a top-three quarterback and likely top-three pick in April.
Current ESPN analyst Dan Orlovsky reacted to Hoge’s statement on ‘Get Up’ Thursday morning, firstly disagreeing with his assessment of Maye’s athleticism.
“I mean he [Maye] is extremely athletic, this kid is a superstar athlete,” Orlovsky said. “I mean if you look at the rushing yardage in the last two college football seasons compared to him and Caleb Williams, he’s got a lot more. So I mean the athleticism is off the charts. I don’t disagree with the erraticism, now I would absolutely take Drake Maye in the first round.”
Maye was the Tar Heels’ leading rusher in his first season as a starter, racking up 698 yards on the ground with seven rushing touchdowns which he followed with 449 rushing yards and nine rushing scores in 2023. Establishing himself as one of the premiere dual-threat quarterbacks in college football.
But Orlovsky does agree with Hoge that Maye has some room to improve, proposing that he goes down a similar path as a breakout NFL quarterback from last season who waited his turn before becoming a starter.
“This what needs to happen with Drake Maye okay everybody, Drake Maye needs to be Jordan Love. Drake Maye needs to be on the Jordan Love plan and Green Bay was fantastic. I remember being there with you and sitting here saying man, Jordan Love has the most wow throws of anybody in that draft class,” Orlovsky said to host Mike Greenberg. “I feel that way about Drake Maye.”
Love was selected with the No. 26 overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft by Green Bay, spending the first three seasons of his professional career sitting behind Aaron Rodgers before being handed the keys to the offense last season.
The decision clearly paid off, with Love leading Green Bay to an improbable playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys and ranking second in the NFL with 32 touchdown passes. A path that Orlovsky could see Maye living out if he has the proper time to develop versus entering his rookie season as a starter.
“The great thing that Green Bay did was realize Jordan Love has some fundamental mechanical flaws, we saw this a little bit in the early part of the season. Drake Maye’s feet are a mess, okay? So were Jordan Love’s coming out of the draft. You have to give these young men time to fix his feet, to work on his feet,” Orlovsky explained. “That’s why, to Merril Hoge’s point, there’s some inconsistency, there’s some easy misses both short and long because his feet are all over the place. So were Jordan Love’s.”
It’s clear that Orlovsky believes that Maye’s unpolished mechanics won’t serve him well at the next level, especially regarding his footwork. And while young quarterbacks waiting their turns before starting has served some franchises well, Maye likely being a top-three selection could get in the way of reality.
“So if the general manager told me we are taking Drake Maye and there’s no shot he’s gonna play to our preference for the first two years of his career. I’m in. Because if you don’t fix your feet going into the NFL, I don’t care who you are. Patrick [Mahomes] had to do it, Josh Allen had to do it, Lamar [Jackson]. I don’t care who you are, you have to fix your feet,” Orlovsky said.
“If he can do that, he’s got superstar talent.”