Why The Falcons Should Draft North Carolina's Drake Maye
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During a fresh interview with Bleav In Falcons podcast host Will McFadden, PFF's Trevor Sikkema advocated for Atlanta's front office brass to make a bold move, and pick up a new quarterback: North Carolina play caller Drake Maye.
There's one big hurdle with that idea, however: Drake Maye could be off the board by the time the Falcons make a selection. They have the eighth pick, and would quite possibly need to draft up to grab a guy generally considered one of the three best quarterbacks on the board, along with USC's Caleb Williams and LSU's Jayden Daniels.
"Drake, may I think it would be great for this offense. I really do, especially when it comes to attacking over the intermediate middle of the field. Anything from 10 to 21 yards down the field. He has the most experience of any quarterback in this class over the last two years with that kind of a sample size," Sikkeman posited. "He's got five big time throws. I think the next closest in that range in that area of the fields, like two for the draft-eligible prospects in this class. He's got more attempts, he's got more drop backs. And so he's very comfortable not just attacking to the sideline like a lot of these dudes are, but also the middle of the field."
"So I think that that would be a huge plus for them. They would love Drake Maye and then the other two that you mentioned, I think that they're right there. I think that [Michigan quarterback] J.J. McCarthy would be great as a guy who works very well off of play action. You can use a lot of like roll out game with him. He's an athletic guy who's comfortable making plays outside of the pocket. He as well is very comfortable still attacking over the middle," Sikkeman added. "And then [Oregon Ducks quarterback] Bo Nix is the other one. I think the Nix is somebody who gets a bad rap, I think for his age, the fact that he's been around so long and then Oregon's offense and if you kind of look past those things, one, I don't really care about quarterback age. Quarterbacks play until their late thirties anyway. If you're good enough you'll play until your late thirties, so forget about [thinking of] a second contract like you're signing a third and a fourth contract. If you're good enough. So if you actually believe in this guy, I don't really care about the age at all whatsoever."
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