Drake Maye vs Joe Burrow

“In only his second NFL season, Drake Maye finished QB2 in fantasy scoring, averaging 21.1 fantasy points per game. Maye was sublime as a passer last year, leading the NFL in completion percentage (72.0%), yards per pass attempt (8.9) and passer rating (113.5). Maye finished a close second in the MVP balloting behind the Rams’ Matthew Stafford .”

“The Patriots should once again have a solid offense, with young star QB Drake Maye at quarterback and new arrival AJ Brown upgrading New England’s WR corps.”

“In just his second year, Drake Maye absolutely tore it up, finishing as the overall QB2 in fantasy and dropping a massive 21.1 PPG.”

“Drake Maye over Josh Allen. Maye immediately looked like one of the best pure passers in the league last season and carries a significant age advantage.”

“There do not seem to be many questions about Drake Maye, with him flying off the board as the consensus QB3, exactly where he finished in 2025. When you find yourself with the fourth-highest pass success rate of any QB through their first two years in the NFL, just behind Patrick Mahomes, Brock Purdy, and Dan Marino, you are doing something right.”

“I recently had a league as such, and I took Drake Maye with the 1.02 pick. Sure, drafting Ja'Marr Chase and letting quarterback value come to me instead may have been a better idea, but knowing I have Maye on my team for, theoretically, the next 10 years is something to feel confident about.”

“Maye's second-year breakout led to a second-place MVP finish and a Super Bowl appearance. He was the QB2 behind Josh Allen in fantasy points for the season (producing 96.3% of Allen's season total), and the QB2 in points per game (20.7).”

“Drake Maye's dual-threat ability will make him a highly sought-after quarterback in fantasy drafts, but I'll be curious to see how he performs against a tougher schedule.”

“Behren Morton will likely be the Patriots' third-string quarterback behind Drake Maye and Tommy DeVito.”

“With FantasyPros ranking their upcoming schedule as the 11th-hardest for fantasy quarterbacks, Maye's rushing will be key if he wants to replicate his elite fantasy numbers. It's likely regression will hit, pushing him down from last year's QB2 finish into the top eight.”

“Drake Maye is coming off a fringe MVP season and a Super Bowl appearance. Passing for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns and eight interceptions, it was truly an elite season from the sophomore signal-caller. He also added 104 rushing attempts for 450 yards and four scores.”

“Drake Maye is one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL.”

“Lamar Jackson , Jayden Daniels , Joe Burrow , Baker Mayfield , and Kyler Murray all were selected as top-12 players at the position and finished double-digit slots behind expectations in terms of points per game.”

“Round 1: Joe Burrow (QB – CIN) To kick things off at No. 4 overall, I went with Joe Burrow .”

“Even with a modest target share, Higgins maximizes his opportunities in one of the NFL’s premier passing offenses led by Joe Burrow .”

“The pivot to more under-center passing won’t be as natural and certainly might not be anywhere near as successful for the Bengals, because Burrow clearly isn’t as comfortable and doesn’t perform as well. In fact, if we go back the last three years, Burrow’s under-center dropbacks average just 3.6 air yards, which ranked dead last: #69 out of 69 qualifying QBs. His time to throw of 2.81 seconds was the #5 fastest out of 69 QBs, and he threw just 17% of passes 10+ yards downfield, also ranking dead last.”

“Zac Taylor wants the Bengals to play more from under center in 2026. Unfortunately, Joe Burrow under center is precisely where this offense struggles most, which is why the Bengals haven't used it often of late. How much the Bengals choose to pivot to under-center passing and how much Burrow can improve on these dropbacks might have a large impact on their fortunes in 2026.”

“Overvalued: Joe Burrow, Quarterback (QB4, Pick 59 OVR) Now, this isn’t to say that I don’t like Joe Burrow, or that I don’t think that Joe Burrow is a talented player; I just think that Joe Burrow is capped insofar as he doesn’t rush at all, and the Bengals’ offensive line isn’t strong enough for him to be a consistent top-four player without the rushing.”

“Of the top-10 quarterbacks based on LTV, Burrow is the one quarterback with little to no rushing upside, making him the quarterback I would want to trade away.”

“Burrow was once again impactful when on the field, completing 66.8% of his passes for a 6.6% touchdown rate. Burrow is the only quarterback with a touchdown rate of 6% or higher in each of the past two seasons.”

“Despite finishing the season as the QB29 last season due to missed games, Burrow finished the season red hot. Through the final six weeks of 2025, Burrow was on pace for 4500+ passing yards and 43 passing TDs. Since 2023, Burrow in Week 1 has been atrocious.”

“Over the last four seasons, Burrow has established himself as one of the NFL's premier fantasy quarterbacks even without the rushing upside of the Allen/Lamar types. He finished as the overall QB3 or better for 14 weeks in that span. What's wild is he missed 17 games in that span!”

“Joe Burrow's health has been the biggest hurdle for this team in recent seasons. If he remains healthy, Burrow will put up MVP numbers, and the Bengals will be in the thick of the playoff hunt in a loaded AFC field of contenders.”

“Seeing Joe Burrow go ahead of quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson and Drake Maye is quite shocking, but Burrow is firmly going as the QB2 on Fantrax. If Burrow were to have another season like 2024, with 45 total touchdowns and almost 5,000 passing yards, he would be worthy of this selection. But we also have to consider the possibility of a repeat of his 2025 season, in which Burrow played only eight games and threw 17 passing touchdowns while finishing with fewer than 2,000 yards in half a season.”