Where did ESPN rank Drake Maye among backup NFL QBs this season?

"The expectation is particularly high for Maye."

Drake Maye is still QB2 on New England’s depth chart entering Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season.

But ESPN believes that the 22-year-old rookie is the best backup QB in the league — standing as a testament to his high ceiling, or perhaps an indictment on how New England is currently structuring its depth chart.

ESPN’s Seth Walder released a power ranking of all 32 backup quarterbacks across the NFL on Thursday. Walder awarded the No. 1 spot to Maye, ahead of Cleveland’s Jameis Winston, Cincinnati’s Jake Browning, Pittsburgh’s Russell Wilson, and Atlanta’s Michael Penix Jr.

It’s a nice accolade for Maye, who ranks ahead of established signal-callers like Wilson despite only having one offensive drive’s worth of NFL reps under his belt.

“I’m high on first-round rookies because the mean expectation for them in Year 1 is a below-average starter with upside,” Walder wrote. “That’s a pretty favorable assessment compared to the rest of this list. The expectation is particularly high for Maye, a high-end prospect selected with the No. 3 overall pick in April. He threw for 62 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions over 26 starts at North Carolina.

“Normally I’d hold not winning the job in training camp against him, but he had solid competition in Jacoby Brissett and Patriots coach Jerod Mayo even said Maye outplayed Brissett in the summer. This was more about giving Maye time to develop and putting him in a position to succeed. Given all that, I’m putting Maye at No. 1.”

Brissett is once again expected to get the start for New England on Sunday against the 49ers, but Maye could be inching closer and closer to the starting gig as this season progresses.

Patriots offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt had plenty of praise for Maye on Thursday.

The third-overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft has continued to develop behind Brissett thanks to a heavy workload during practices, with Jerod Mayo confirming Wednesday that Maye is still logging 30 percent of first-team reps during the week.

“Really good. He’s continuing to grow,” Van Pelt said of Maye. “I think the game experience the other night will really help him moving forward. The plan’s in place, and I think we’re certainly seeing him starting to really grow on the practice field.”