Can Fantasy Football Owners Trust Drake Maye In Week 5 And Beyond?

We debate whether Week 4 was an aberration or a sign of things to come for New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye.

Drake Maye #10 of the New England Patriots warms up before the game against the Buffalo Bills at New Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

After a disastrous first three weeks of the fantasy football season, Drake Maye bounced back in Week 4 and was the QB1 overall on the week, finishing with more than 27 fantasy points on the week. With Maye getting off to such an awful start to the season, many fantasy owners benched him or even cut him after Week 3, but last week's performance obviously changes things.

He finished the game throwing for 269 yards, three touchdowns, one interception, and 54 rushing yards. This was a great week, but can you now trust him in Week 5 and moving forward beyond that, or was Week 4 just a trap for fantasy owners to fall into?

Can You Trust Drake Maye?

Maye looked good in Week 4 and was avoiding the mistakes and turnovers that have been driving down his fantasy value this season, while also tacking on value on the ground, which he hadn't done in the past few weeks. His 269 passing yards and three touchdowns were also team highs. He stepped up and looked like the MVP candidate he was in 2025, while getting the win over the Buffalo Bills.

This week, he will go up against the Las Vegas Raiders. They are a middle-of-the-pack matchup, allowing the 15th-most fantasy points to quarterbacks this season, which is almost the dead center of the league when it comes to allowing fantasy points to the position. The very average matchup will make this a great test for where Maye is actually at.

So far this season, he has had three brutal matchups and one great one, and he has played to that matchup. The hope is that he can still finish near the top of the league in fantasy points this week in an average matchup. However, if he struggles in this matchup, it will be a cause for concern moving forward beyond Week 5. It would make him more of a matchup-based option, rather than the sure-fire QB1 he was drafted to be.

Verdict

We are banking on the talent here and believe in Maye. The slow start was likely caused more by the tough matchups than a drastic falloff. That's not to say that he shouldn't have been better, but we still view him as a QB1 this week. He should be a top-five option.

Beyond this week, the Pats will have a much easier schedule coming up for the majority of the season, and he should be getting back his WR1, AJ Brown, in a few weeks, hopefully Week 6. We do believe that you can trust Maye to be an every-week starting option moving forward.

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