Too soon? Drake Maye vs Tom Brady

[Nehalem]

Okay I mean it pretty much is too soon since Tom Brady had 20 seasons of excellence while Maye hasn't even played a playoff game

But its still fun to compare Maye's 2025 season vs the top seasons Brady had in his career.

Completion %: 72 vs 68.9(2007) best for Brady
Yards/attempt: 8.9 vs 8.6(2011) best for Brady
QB rating: 113.5 better than all but 2007 for Brady
QBR: 77.2 better than all but 2007, 2010, 2016, 2014(tied) for Brady

Also adds 450 yards rushing, which goes without saying, is way more than Brady ever had. And he is doing this in his age 23 season when Tom wasn't riding the pine.

So in short Maye's 2025 regular season compares favorably with pretty much any of Brady's despite not having elite weapons.

Excited to see where this goes in the future!

 

[JoeSixPat]

Way too soon. But for what it's worth, as of Year 2, Maye is better than Brady was as of Year 2

Brady also had the habit of favoring a few receivers and largely ignoring everyone else - Maye is spreading the field with more accuracy and a better completion rate. This alone bodes well as Brady's habit of limiting his receiving targets allowed Ds to double team those players. DCs know Maye will make them pay for that.

 

[Mayeniac]

Drake

 

[DC Patriots]

Too soon. Too soon in a way that’s unfair to Drake.

Tom is Tom because of who he was in the biggest moments, not because of stats. Drake hasn’t had those opportunities.

 

[turkeyneck]

When Drake shows that psychopathic killer instinct under the bright lights that Brady had then the comparisons can begin in earnest.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Way too soon. But for what it's worth, as of Year 2, Maye is better than Brady was as of Year 2

Agree. Keep in min in 2001 the ave NFL comp % was 59%. Now it is 65% Ave Qb rating was 78. Now it's 91. I also don't think other than Troy Brown Tom had Drake's weapons.

Brady also had the habit of favoring a few receivers and largely ignoring everyone else

With players like Brown, Branch, Moss, Wes, Gronk, and Jules what is he supposed to do? What great players did Tom ignore?

- Maye is spreading the field with more accuracy and a better completion rate. This alone bodes well as Brady's habit of limiting his receiving targets allowed Ds to double team those players. DCs know Maye will make them pay for that.

Keep in mind once Bill opened up the offense and acquired top talent, Tom's offenses scored 30 a game.

 

[imahobgoblin]

Can you republish this thread in 18 years?

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Stop.

TFB became a stat beast but began with *only* the “it” factor. Efficient, yes, “good,” yes, but not a stat beast. We all made a point of that distinction… manning had woulda shoulda coulda stat rings. Brady just beat you. Every. f’ing. Time. (Well, seemed that way.)

Now, get D “DM” M a ring, and I am sure I’ll get giddy like a Mahomeboy.

For now, he doesn’t have to be TFB, he’s DM.

Anybody else enough of a nerd that you immediately think of “dungeon master” when you see his initials?

 

[sb1]

This comparison is the greatest QB of all time vs a dynamite second year QB and MVP candidate who elevated his team to a great season but that's all he is right now. He also hasn't won a thing in the playoffs yet.

Setting a bar that high isn't fair to him and it's a contest he will never win. There will only ever be one Brady. I don't need Drake to be Brady.

Also comparing stats in that way should be left to the Mahomes fanbois.

 

[Rob0729]

Way too soon and not really a fair comparison. Different eras. Plus the Patriots used Brady more of a game manager early in his career and relied on their defense.

Let's see where Maye is in year four or five before we start to compare him to Brady for real.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Agree. Keep in min in 2001 the ave NFL comp % was 59%. Now it is 65% Ave Qb rating was 78. Now it's 91. I also don't think other than Troy Brown Tom had Drake's weapons.

With players like Brown, Branch, Moss, Wes, Gronk, and Jules what is he supposed to do? What great players did Tom ignore?

I don't think I'm alone in noticing how many guys got in Brady's dog house and thus stopped being an option for him,

Even in the historic 2007 season, over time Brady came to really just rely on two WRs into the playoffs who certainly had some big catches but were getting nearly ALL the targets, creating a potent but extremely predictable offense.

Take Moss for example with 98 catches on a whopping 160 targets.

Diggs on the other hand only 85 catches - but on only 102 targets.

I'm not faulting Moss. He and Welker carried nearly the entire offense and while Moss missed 4 out of 10 passes coming his way, he did that amid double and triple teams because there was no question that the ball was going to him or Welker on nearly every important throw.

We had the confidence that when a key catch was needed you could count on a slightly better than 50/50 chance that Moss would catch it.

Maye is different. He doesn't try to force it to a few preferred WRs. He chooses the open receiver - which is often a surprise to us and the D - hence his incredibly efficient completion rate. And bear in mind most of Maye's aren't low risk short passes like a lot of the ones Welker would pull in - I think he leads the NFL in the long ball.

The bottom line is while Moss caught barely over half his targets, Diggs pulls in a WHOPPING 83% of the passes thrown his way, in part because Maye keeps Ds honest by spreading the field.

In other words, with Maye and a much less stellar WR corp than Brady had, with the game on the line you've got guys like Diggs who you could count on to haul it in MORE than 8 out of 10 times that passes were thrown his way.

Ask any statistician who they want when you need ONE key catch, and they will take Diggs 83% over Moss's 60% every time

I guess my point is, that if Brady had Maye's inclination to spread the ball more, with Maye's efficiency (achieved in part BECAUSE he spreads the ball), then 2007 truly would have been the perfect season.

 

[Guts]

Let Drake write his own story. .



Tom Brady is a whole ass NFL timeline lol

 

[KCSVEN]

Brady is all about Super Bowls. 10 appearances when next highest is Elway with 5. Mind boggling.

Was Brady more talented than Aaron Rodgers? No. Yet 2020 Rodgers season one of greatest in history and loses to Brady 31-26 in playoffs when both threw 3 TD's but Brady threw 3 picks to Rodgers 1. Did Brady win that over Rodgers or did Brady win because the team around him was that much better?

Brady did things after age 40 that nobody else has ever done.

This is why he will likely remain the GOAT for a very long time. So much goes into making Super Bowls that are outside the control of the QB.

Maye is more athletic than Brady, better deep ball thrower, more accurate overall. Brady is probably the greatest processor of all-time.

Maye vs Brady is same as Rodgers (4 MVP's) vs Brady (3 MVP's) as a comparison. Which is greatest comes down to Super Bowls, and hard to believe Brady is caught by anyone, ever.
Mahomes had a shot, but Chiefs are rebuilding, Reid will be gone soon, and his division is not a cake walk anymore. Brady had a cakewalk division for almost his entire career which led to byes and home playoff games. Can't underestimate that.

 

[203Pat]

The 2001 version and the 2025 version of the NFL might as well be two different sports. To compare Brady's second year stats and Drake's is completely unfair to Brady.

 

[Steve102]

This comparison is the greatest QB of all time vs a dynamite second year QB and MVP candidate who elevated his team to a great season but that's all he is right now. He also hasn't won a thing in the playoffs yet.

Setting a bar that high isn't fair to him and it's a contest he will never win. There will only ever be one Brady. I don't need Drake to be Brady.

Also comparing stats in that way should be left to the Mahomes fanbois.

Maye does have the advantage of having a JMcD that has all the answers to the test. I might be alone here, but it's like a cheat code. Josh had to learn as he went with Tom, but now he has seen it all.

 

[BobDigital]

Way too soon. But for what it's worth, as of Year 2, Maye is better than Brady was as of Year 2

Brady also had the habit of favoring a few receivers and largely ignoring everyone else - Maye is spreading the field with more accuracy and a better completion rate. This alone bodes well as Brady's habit of limiting his receiving targets allowed Ds to double team those players. DCs know Maye will make them pay for that.

I've read this before and while it is mostly true I really dislike the narrative that Brady wasn't elite in year 2. He clearly was already one of the best QBs in the league at that point.

28 TDs led the league. He had a mid defense at best, better than the one Maye had this year. An overall subpar cast of pass catchers and one of the worst running games in the NFL vs a super bowl winner's schedule. And did it injured part of the year.

Also you can't compare stats from 2002 to 2025. That's just not fair. But yes. It is fair to say that year 2 Maye was slightly better than Brady year 2, outside of the clutch factor which he had already demonstrated multiple times by that point. Maye hasn't had to prove that much yet.

 

[p8ryts]

I've read this before and while it is mostly true I really dislike the narrative that Brady wasn't elite in year 2. He clearly was already one of the best QBs in the league at that point.

28 TDs led the league. He had a mid defense at best, better than the one Maye had this year. An overall subpar cast of pass catchers and one of the worst running games in the NFL vs a super bowl winner's schedule. And did it injured part of the year.

Also you can't compare stats from 2002 to 2025. That's just not fair. But yes. It is fair to say that year 2 Maye was slightly better than Brady year 2, outside of the clutch factor which he had already demonstrated multiple times by that point. Maye hasn't had to prove that much yet.

I don't like comparing them. Brady was great. Let's hope Maye can equal his success. Brady couldn't run a lick so it's a different process.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I don't think I'm alone in noticing how many guys got in Brady's dog house and thus stopped being an option for him,
Even in the historic 2007 season, over time Brady came to really just rely on two WRs into the playoffs who certainly had some big catches but were getting nearly ALL the targets, creating a potent but extremely predictable offense.
Take Moss for example with 98 catches on a whopping 160 targets.

Diggs on the other hand only 85 catches - but on only 102 targets.

I'm not faulting Moss. He and Welker carried nearly the entire offense and while Moss missed 4 out of 10 passes coming his way, he did that amid double and triple teams because there was no question that the ball was going to him or Welker on nearly every important throw.

We had the confidence that when a key catch was needed you could count on a slightly better than 50/50 chance that Moss would catch it.

Maye is different. He doesn't try to force it to a few preferred WRs. He chooses the open receiver - which is often a surprise to us and the D - hence his incredibly efficient completion rate. And bear in mind most of Maye's aren't low risk short passes like a lot of the ones Welker would pull in - I think he leads the NFL in the long ball.

The bottom line is while Moss caught barely over half his targets, Diggs pulls in a WHOPPING 83% of the passes thrown his way, in part because Maye keeps Ds honest by spreading the field.

In other words, with Maye and a much less stellar WR corp than Brady had, with the game on the line you've got guys like Diggs who you could count on to haul it in MORE than 8 out of 10 times that passes were thrown his way.

Ask any statistician who they want when you need ONE key catch, and they will take Diggs 83% over Moss's 60% every time

I guess my point is, that if Brady had Maye's inclination to spread the ball more, with Maye's efficiency (achieved in part BECAUSE he spreads the ball), then 2007 truly would have been the perfect season.

Not sure where you are getting your numbers.

Moss caught 61% of the passes thrown his way in 07. I don't know where this 4/10 comes from. Diggs had an average target depth of 8.5 yards. Thats short. Moss averaged 15+ yards a catch. They are completely different receivers. Thats like saying you want to throw to Edelman instead of Gronk. One moves chains. The other moves field position and scores TDs.

In the 07 playoffs Brady threw to 8 different receivers in the first two games each time and six different ones vs the Giants. You might want to go back and look at all the the other receivers Tom threw to that year.

By the time 09 came around they had no one else to throw to. Even BB knew it but did nothing about it. From 2010-2018 the offense became much more talented. The numbers show this.

The receivers I mentioned were proven targets. Every other non-starter besides Amendola and Mitchell wound up in the dog house because they sucked.

Your perception of why Brady didn't spread the ball is off. It wasn't because he locked onto receivers like some kind of binky. It was because he had to when he didn't have other talent to throw to because the numbers show when he did, he distributed the ball very well.

 

[reflexblue]

When Drake shows that psychopathic killer instinct under the bright lights that Brady had then the comparisons can begin in earnest.

From what ive seen so far Maye is probably more physically talented than Brady, but like you posted does he have the psychopathic killer instinct, and the absolute drive to win.

 

[raduray]

I think we need to see a few game winning two minute drives before we can have that discussion.