We should all be so lucky to have someone ride for us like ESPN’s Ben Solak rides for New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. It’s the type of loyalty that defies reason or facts or objectivity or even just a basic understanding of the game of football.
Even in the offseason, Solak once again created an opportunity for himself to make sure everyone knows he thinks Maye is better than Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
“Jayden Daniels had a historically productive rookie quarterback season,” Solak wrote on May 27. “The Commanders’ fan base and team brass should feel confident and inspired about the future of the position. However, I’m still as — if not more — impressed by how well Drake Maye played on that terrible Patriots offense last season. Statistically, he didn’t hold a candle. But degree of difficulty? Maye was playing a completely different sport. I’ll put it this way and hope metropolitan D.C. doesn’t come for my head: Patriots fans should feel as confident and inspired about their future at quarterback as Commanders fans do right now.”
Daniels was taken at No. 2 overall in the 2024 NFL draft — one spot ahead of Maye — but as far as what’s happened on the field at this point they’re in 2 different universes.
Daniels was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and a Pro Bowler in 2024 as he led the Commanders to a 12-5 regular season record and the NFC Championship Game — their best season since 1991. He also set the NFL rookie rushing record with 891 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Maye lost a training camp battle to be the starting quarterback to Jacoby Brissett and eventually went 3-9 in 12 starts.
It’s also not the first time Solak has went to the mattresses to let everyone know he thinks Maye is better than Daniels.
Easily Drake Maye’s worst throw of the night so far
Ongoing Case for Maye Over Daniels
Solak was riding for Maye as the festering corpse of the Patriots crawled its way past the finish line during the 2024 NFL regular season.
Toward the end of December, Solak put Maye ahead of both Daniels and Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix in his rookie QB rankings. Nix was an NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year finalist, started all 17 games and led the Broncos to the postseason for the first time in a decade.
“It is simultaneously true that Daniels has been excellent, that Nix has been good and that Maye has actually been the most impressive of the three,” Solak wrote on December 24. “And it doesn’t take anything away from Daniels or Nix that Maye has been so wonderful.”
You don’t hear wonderful and a 3-9 record as a starter together very often. Solak took that leap in logic as a challenge.
” … I won’t let the Patriots’ record stop Maye from getting his deserved day in the sun in this crowded rookie class,” Solak wrote. “He has been at least as good — and I’d say better — as all of his contemporaries. And with good team building, the Patriots should be ready to vault into AFC East contention as soon as next season.”
