Thursday, the Tar Heels hosted their pro day as nineteen former players who are hoping to continue their football careers at the professional level worked out in front of scouts. While this was an important day for all the guys who participated, the bulk of the focus from those in attendance was on quarterback Drake Maye, who will be one of the first players off the board in the 2024 draft. He had a couple of misses early but rallied to put together a very solid performance that included some ‘wow’ moments.
The early misses were two that were making rounds on the internet because of how far off they were, but the good news is that Maye went right back to the same throw both times on the very next rep and hit them with no issue. Both were throws to the sideline, one to each side, that he sailed, something that has concerned scouts about him, but as Bucky Brooks of the NFL Network said afterward, shouldn’t be something that coaches and general managers look at as a reason not to draft him.
Outside of those two throws, he looked really good as he ran through the remainder of the short and intermediate portion of his script before transitioning to the deep throws, which is where he really shined as many expected he would. The quarterback who has the most big-time throws down the field in the last two seasons at the college level according to Pro Football Focus hit every one of his deep passes, with almost every one of them dropping into the receivers in stride. Some of the best throws down the field came with him on the move, throws that became routine for Maye to hit in his time in Chapel Hill.
Overall, this was a nice impression for Maye to leave on teams that may be considering drafting him early in next month’s draft. While some on social media may have been critical of his performance, the experts who cover the sport day in and day out seemed very pleased with what they saw. Maye will now be setting some top 30 visits with teams, some who might host their own private workouts with him, as we close in on the first round of the NFL Draft, which will commence on April 25th in Detroit.
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