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Is Drake Maye the richest rookie in UNC history?
Any Carolina athlete drafted higher, such as Mitch Trubisky (No. 2 by the Bears in 2017), did not earn as much as the third pick by New England in the recent NFL Draft. Trubisky signed for only $29 million over four years.
You can go all the way back to Michael Jordan in 1984 (No. 3 by the Bulls), and his rookie deal was 6 millon over four years. Maye signed a fully guaranteed four-year contract with the Patriots for more than $36 million including a $24 million signing bonus at age 21.
Rookie salary caps in the NFL will limit Maye to between $6 and 7 million in his first season, but he can surely get by on that even with the much higher cost of living in New England. Maye left UNC already wealthy from the NIL payment his family received after his star-studded freshman season, said to be well over a million bucks.
Now, the massive amount of money automatically makes Maye the future quarterback of the Patriots even if he doesn’t start a regular-season game in 2024.
He could lose that priority position if he does not produce once he becomes the starter. The Pats’ last first-round QB pick (No. 15 Mac Jones from Alabama’s national championship team) started for three years before the franchise moved in another direction and traded him to Jacksonville.
And Maye, though taller, faster and with a stronger arm than Jones, could have a different path by playing behind NFL veteran (and former N.C. State QB) Jacoby Brissett for his rookie year while the former Super Bowl dynasty rebuilds under new head coach Jerod Mayo and the Patriots upgrade their receiving corp.
The biggest, and probably overstated, criticism of Maye is his footwork, which some pro scouts say gives him “happy feet” from playing mostly in a shotgun offense at Carolina. One of Drake’s best attributes is his ability to break contain from the rush and take off with the ball although he will be trained to be a pocket passer in the NFL.
Adjusting to life as a pro, which is both under center or in the gun for most NFL quarterbacks, seems like a matter of coaching and repetition during summer drills that are already under way and training camp in August.
Mack Brown’s constant praise of Maye highlighted how fast he picked up the college game and his accuracy at full speed, aided by redshirting for a season behind Sam Howell, who was traded from Washington to Seattle in the spring.
So while starting with a multi-million-dollar contract is the goal of all pro athletes, proving that they are worth the investment is even more important.
After all, that’s what all the hype is about.
Featured image via Associated Press/Steven Senne
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
