North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye is expected to be selected very early in the 2024 NFL Draft in April. But his actual landing spot within the top 10 has been widely debated among pundits. Add former Carolina Panthers scout Bucky Brooks to the list of analysts who have projected Maye as a top-three player at his position. While Maye, a Charlotte native and Myers Park High School alum, has been a popular target of the Washington Commanders with the second overall pick in early offseason mock drafts, Brooks — who served as a regional college scout for Carolina from 2003 to 2007 — has the North Carolina quarterback as the third-rated signal-caller entering this year’s NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
Maye is behind University of Southern California’s Caleb Williams and LSU’s Jayden Daniels in Brooks’ NFL.com ranking of the top five quarterback prospects in the 2024 class. “Maye is coming off a disappointing final campaign in Chapel Hill,” Brooks wrote as part of his analysis, “but he commands plenty of attention in scouting circles due to his prototypical dimensions and exceptional arm talent.”
Brooks, who now serves as an NFL Media draft analyst, says Williams has “has All-Pro-caliber talent” and Daniels “dazzles on the perimeter as a dual-threat quarterback with elite talents as a runner and passer.” While Maye is behind Williams and Daniels in Brooks’ ranking, he is still ahead of University of Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. and University of Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy.
Brooks’ colleague, Daniel Jeremiah has Maye as his second-rated quarterback in his ranking of the top 50 players in the class, behind Williams. Maye is the fourth overall prospect on the NFL Media analyst’s big board entering the combine.
