Drake Maye's Slow Start: Chicken Wings, 4 INTs and a Fantasy Dip
Maye owns just one TD and four picks through three weeks — 31st in the NFL in giveaways. Here's what it means for your QB slot.
Our #3 QB ranking survives a rough three-week sample. Ride it out.
- Maye: 1 TD, 386 pass yds, 4 INT through 3 games
- Four INTs rank 31st in the NFL
- Ranks just 25th in passing yards
- Our #9 overall, #3 QB entering 2026
- 2025: 4,394 yds, 31 TD, 8 INT, 354 PPR pts
Drake Maye's second act isn't going to plan. The Patriots quarterback has thrown just one touchdown against four interceptions through three weeks, piling up 386 passing yards along the way. Those four giveaways rank 31st in the league, and his yardage total sits a lowly 25th — not the numbers anyone expected from a guy who finished runner-up in last year's MVP race.
That 2025 campaign was a monster: 4,394 passing yards, 31 touchdowns and only eight picks, plus 450 rushing yards and four more scores on the ground. It added up to 354 PPR points and a Super Bowl appearance. On our board he's still the No. 9 player overall and the No. 3 quarterback for 2026 — but the early production hasn't matched the price tag.
The Chicken Wing Philosophy
Patriots QB coach Ashton Grant has a memorable way of pushing Maye. Grant said Maye is his own harshest critic and chases perfection, so he leans into it with a food metaphor. He shows Maye photos of picked-clean chicken wings to make the point that there's always a little more meat on the bone — a little more to squeeze out of details, technique and communication.
It's a nice image, and honestly the metaphor holds up. The elite quarterbacks are the ones who do the extra work most guys skip. Whether that translates back to the box score in the next few weeks is the question fantasy managers actually care about.
The Fantasy Fallout
New England travels to Jacksonville this weekend before a Week 4 trip to Buffalo — a schedule that offers real bounce-back potential against beatable secondaries. Maye's own form flag is telling: over his last five games he's averaged +1.7 fantasy points above his season baseline, so the arrow was pointing up before this stretch, not down.
Bottom line: don't overreact to a three-game sample from a top-three fantasy quarterback. Interceptions are volatile and tend to regress, and the talent that produced 354 PPR points last season hasn't evaporated. Hold Maye, plug him back into your lineup, and let the meat come off the bone.
