Super Bowl Injury Update: Drake Maye Nurses Apparent Shoulder Injury
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The Road to the Super Bowl is not sunshine and rainbows 100% of the time. Players get dinged up, being 20 games deep into the season. That appears to be the case with the Patriots star Quarterback, Drake Maye. He is speculated to have injured his throwing shoulder in the AFC Championship Game. This will now be something vital to monitor. Though he will also surely play at no limit, we should know their backup. That is Josh Dobbs.
Fantasy Football Impact
Mike Vrabel asked if Drake Maye hurt his shoulder in Denver: "This is a sport where there's gonna be things that come up. We'll talk about whatever status each player has for the game once we're required to."
— Phil Perry (@PhilAPerry) January 27, 2026
First and foremost, this injury should not sideline Maye. This is the Super Bowl. There is no caution, there is just hard-nose football. Nonetheless, if he is not 100%, we must weight what that means.
In 2025 Fantasy Football, Maye finished as the QB2 overall. However, he did benefit from an easy schedule in the process. The Patriots had the 32nd hardest Strength of Schedule. In fact, they are just the FPI 10th best team in the NFL, in contrast to the Seahawks being #1.
If we normalized Maye's schedule to be an average one, he would likely still retain high-status as a Top-5 Quarterback. Being injured, he could fall to perform on par with a Top-10 Quarterback in output. Perhaps we can compare his expected output to that of a Bo Nix or Justin Herbert. That is still pretty darn good.
The ultimate status of Maye in Fantasy Football is that of a must-start, even over Sam Darnold. He has added risk, but he still has a ceiling higher than Darnold. Ceilings are what we aim for, and ceilings are what we will take.
As for the rest of the Patriots', this could reduce the output of all key pass-catchers. This goes for Stefon Diggs, Kayshon Boutte, Mack Hollins, and Hunter Henry. They could see 5-20% reductions in output. Of course, we have plenty of time yet until the big game. We will stay tuned in to Maye's injury status.
Drake Maye Has Apparent Throwing Shoulder Injury
Drake Maye injured his right throwing shoulder against the Broncos. How severe the injury is, and the exact diagnosis, remains to be determined. Heading into Super Bowl LX, I’m far more concerned about Maye’s shoulder than Sam Darnold’s oblique. pic.twitter.com/kHQb9Q8q6D
— David J. Chao - ProFootballDoc (@ProFootballDoc) January 26, 2026
Per David Chao, ProFootballDoc, there is "no question" in his mind that Maye endured a shoulder injury against the Broncos. As per Mike Vrabel, he seems to have less concern than most. No player is "100% healthy" on his team. There is 14 days between the two games, so Maye has plenty of time to nurse his injury. If this injury were that drastic, I am sure we would have heard a bit more about it.
As it stands, the Patriots are (4.5) point underdogs in the Super Bowl. There has been no Vegas line movement, so they appear concerned very little, as well.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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Thomas Carelli is a sportswriter based on Northern New Jersey. He is a massive New York Jets and Mets fan, but that is not where is sports fandom stops. He loves to watch and play golf, all things football, baseball, and much more. If he can watch it, he will. Thomas graduated from William Paterson University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in Sport Management. He spent 4 years working at a local golf course, volunteered past PGA events, and spent some part-time experience with the New York Jets events team. His passions for sport runs deep and his articles show for it.