New Report Reveals The Insane Trade Offer One Team Made For Drake Maye

This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.

A quarterback-needy NFC team reportedly attempted to trade up for New England Patriots star Drake Maye at the 2024 NFL Draft.

Drake Maye had an MVP-caliber sophomore season, leading the Patriots to a 14-3 record and their first AFC East division crown since 2019. He continued that momentum in the postseason, helping the Pats to the AFC Championship and their first Super Bowl berth in seven years.

Maye was taken third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, after Caleb Williams (first overall to the Chicago Bears) and Jayden Daniels (second to the Washington Commanders). Obviously, New England has zero regrets with how the board played out.

Interestingly, one NFC team reportedly made an aggressive pitch to move up for Maye before the Patriots selected him.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Minnesota Vikings offered three first-round selections plus a late-round pick swap to the Patriots for the No. 3 pick in 2024. However, the Pats were firm on taking Drake Maye:

“Then, there’s the one caveat to all of this, which is that the Vikings tried with all their might to trade up for Drake Maye in 2024. O’Connell loved him. Maye was coached in high school by Vikings assistant Josh McCown and was a teammate of McCown’s son.

Minnesota offered both of its first-round picks in 2024 (Nos. 11 and 23) and its 2025 first-rounder to the Patriots, with later-round pick swaps favoring Minnesota to move up to the third pick. O’Connell pushed them to go further. It wouldn’t matter, because the Patriots weren’t moving, sitting there as convicted in Maye as Minnesota was in the former North Carolina quarterback.”

Minnesota wound up moving up one spot to take Michigan quarterback JJ McCarthy with the No. 10 pick. And yet, it was recently reported that the Vikings nearly traded McCarthy to the Las Vegas Raiders last year.

Drake Maye Landed In The Perfect Spot

As much talent as Minnesota has, there is zero guarantee that Maye would have hit his ceiling in the Gopher State. He landed with the Patriots at the perfect time.

The Patriots didn’t have to rush Maye’s development. They already had veteran journeyman Jacoby Brissett to open the year as the starter. Maye showed promise when he eventually took over as the starting QB.

New England saw enough to go “all-in” last offseason. They brought in Stefon Diggs, Mack Hollins, TreVeyon Henderson, Morgan Moses and Will Campbell to bolster the offense around Maye. And of course, having world-class coaching from Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels has made the ultimate difference.