Tennessee Titans first-round pick - Drake Maye QB, North Carolina
A few things here. First, if Drake Maye leaves college early and is available in next year's draft he won't last until pick 7. He's far too good and should be the second or third pick in the draft (USC's Caleb Williams will go first overall; you can write that down in pen). Also, I traded back from pick 4 to pick 7 in this mock as I was offered Tampa Bay's number 7 pick in 2024 plus a first-round choice in 2025. That seemed like a no-brainer.
Levis might be a decent quarterback one day. Heck, Willis might be decent if he were somewhere where he was forced to play a lot and grow. However, Drake Maye is on another planet from a talent perspective. Mobility, arm strength, accuracy, you name it and Maye has it in spades.
#UNC QB Drake Maye (6-4, 220). One of the better parts of his game is his touch on down-the-field throws. Throws like this are littered throughout his tape from last year. pic.twitter.com/HPBJIyNFKO
— Jordan Reid (@Jordan_Reid) May 25, 2023
Maye isn't just better than Levis or Willis either. If Maye had been eligible this year and if the Tennessee Titans had drafted him, he would have been a legitimate candidate to compete with Ryan Tannehill for the starting job as a rookie. Even though Tannehill would have probably given them a better chance to win in Week 1, Maye's growth and scheme flexibility might have been too much to ignore.
Again, I don't think Maye is going to be around at pick number 7 (or even number 4 if the Titans end up with that original choice in 2024). Tennessee is probably going to be awful in 2023 to have a chance to choose Maye. The good thing for 2023 is that Tennessee isn't likely to be bad enough to be in a position to take Maye.