North Carolina QB Drake Maye's draft stock takes another interesting turn

As recently as earlier this week, NFL personnel and analysts seemed down on North Carolina Tar Heels quarterback Drake Maye compared to LSU Tigers signal-caller Jayden Daniels. 

However, ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller wrote in a piece published on Friday that "there are a lot of Drake Maye believers out there" ahead of the upcoming draft that gets underway next Thursday night. 

"In a call with an NFC North scout this week, we talked about the North Carolina quarterback's upside and physical traits," Miller explained. "This scout believes Maye is the 'clear-cut QB2 and not far behind QB1' in this class. The scout said, 'Maye's arm, mobility ... those are all things you can't coach, and then you add in that he's so raw. Teams think they can take him to the moon once he's developed.'"

Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans is widely viewed as QB1 in this year's draft class, so much so that it's seemingly a lock that the Chicago Bears will take Williams first overall. Interestingly, one anonymous AFC national scout suggested earlier this week that the Washington Commanders should take Maye over Daniels via the second selection and on Thursday night, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk noted that DraftKings had given Maye and Daniels "identical odds to go second overall." 

That wasn't the case as of early Friday afternoon, with DraftKings Sportsbook listing Daniels as the betting favorite at -125 odds to be the draft's second overall pick. Maye was second on the list at +100 odds. DraftKings also had Maye as the betting favorite at +100 odds to be the third overall selection, with Daniels not far behind at +115. 

"That doesn't likely affect how early Maye goes, since everyone I've talked to believes he'll be no worse than the third pick in the draft as of now," Miller said about his chat with the NFC North scout. "But the talk over the past month that teams might not be as high on him as most people think is certainly not a consensus viewpoint." 

The Minnesota Vikings are an NFC North team that needs a long-term answer at quarterback and a franchise which has the equity to send multiple noteworthy assets to the New England Patriots to move up to pick No. 3 overall for Maye. Whether or not Maye gets past the Commanders in the draft order shall be seen.