The New England Patriots only had to wait two picks before they made their selection, as they added North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye with the third pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
The former Tar Heel joins a quarterback room that already had Jacoby Brissett, Bailey Zappe and Nathan Rourke in it and also got Joe Milton later in the draft.
It's unknown, at this point, if Maye will be the starter at the beginning of the season, but it's obvious that he'll get an opportunity at some point.
Before he takes the field for the first time in a Patriots jersey, here a few things fans should know about their first-round pick:
Two-year starter at UNC
Maye took over as the Tar Heels' full-time starter in 2022 after Sam Howell was drafted into the NFL by the Washington Commanders.
In his two years starting at North Carolina, Maye earned First-Team All-ACC honors in 2022 and Second-team honors in 2023. He was also named ACC Player of the Year in 2022.
Maye appeared in 30 games throughout his collegiate career, completing 64.9% of his attempts for 8,018 yards, 63 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He also added another 1,209 yards and 16 scores on the ground.
Brotherly competition
Maye has three older brothers who were/are all college athletes - Luke, Beau and Cole.
Luke won a national championship with North Carolina playing basketball and now plays in Japan. Beau currently plays basketball at North Carolina. Cole was a pitcher at Florida when the team won the College World Series in 2017.
Drake became the first brother drafted, so that's a notch on his belt, but he still says his brothers have the championships over him.
Not the first Maye in the NFL
While his brothers may not have made it to their professional leagues in the United States, Maye's father, Mark, had a stint with the Tampa Baye Buccaneers after playing quarterback for North Carolina from 1984-87
He has respect for Tom Brady
"Yeah, Tom Brady's the G.O.A..T.," Maye said after getting drafted. "It's easy to say that. He's the best that ever played this game. I'm not going to be Tom Brady. So, I'm just going to try to be Drake Maye, and from there, I'm just trying to learn from him, hopefully get to know him a little bit. Other than that, just try to soak it up, be a sponge and try to learn all I can from him. He's the man of that town."
