Drake Maye has drawn plenty of comparisons in his young NFL career - Josh Allen, Justin Herbert, even Tom Brady. But heading into his first AFC Divisional Round appearance, ESPN’s Joe Buck added a new name to the mix that might raise some eyebrows: Peyton Manning.
Now, stylistically, Maye and Manning couldn’t be more different. Manning made a Hall of Fame career out of carving defenses from the pocket with surgical precision.
Maye, on the other hand, plays with a bit more flair - a mobile gunslinger who can extend plays and improvise when the script breaks down. But Buck wasn’t talking about arm angles or passing charts.
He was talking about presence. Poise.
That hard-to-define “it” factor.
“When he was on our production call, he hung up, and I was like, ‘Something about him reminds me of Manning,’” Buck said this week on the Next Pats podcast. “Just his demeanor to be a 23-year-old just kind of blew me away.”
That’s high praise coming from someone who’s been around the league long enough to know what greatness looks like before it fully blossoms. And when Buck draws that line between Maye and Manning, it’s less about playstyle and more about the DNA - the way both quarterbacks carry themselves, the way they command a room even before they step onto the field.
Maye, the youngest of four boys in a family full of athletes, has that natural confidence that seems to come from growing up in a household where competition wasn’t optional - it was the norm. Buck pointed out the parallels to the Manning family, where Peyton, Eli, and their father Archie built a football legacy that’s become part of NFL lore.
“There’s just something about him,” Buck said. “It’s not the on-field play style, but there’s a maturity there at 23 years old that you just hang up and go, ‘Man, that young man is different.’”
Different might be the right word. Maye didn’t just look the part this season - he played like an MVP.
He led the league in completion percentage (72%), yards per attempt (8.9), and passer rating (113.5), all while guiding the Patriots to a 14-3 record and the No. 2 seed in the AFC. Those aren’t rookie numbers.
Those are franchise-quarterback, face-of-the-league numbers.
And according to Buck, it’s that same maturity off the field that’s fueling Maye’s success on it.
“He limits turnovers. He doesn’t panic.
He takes off at the right time,” Buck said. “His eyes are downfield, but if it’s not there, he doesn’t force it.”
That kind of decision-making - calm, calculated, and composed - is rare for any quarterback, let alone one in his first full season as a starter. But Maye has made it look routine.
He’s not rattled by pressure. He doesn’t get greedy.
And he’s shown a knack for knowing when to push and when to pull back - a skill that often takes years for young quarterbacks to develop.
That poise will be tested in a big way this Sunday when New England hosts the Houston Texans in the AFC Divisional Round. The Texans come in with the league’s stingiest scoring defense and a ball-hawking unit that racked up 29 takeaways this season, good for third in the NFL. They’re fast, physical, and opportunistic - exactly the kind of defense that can rattle a young quarterback if he’s not locked in.
Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium, with Buck and Troy Aikman on the call. And while the spotlight will be on the Patriots’ offense and Maye’s ability to handle playoff pressure, there’s a growing sense - from Buck and others - that this isn’t just another promising young QB.
This might be something more.
Because when a 23-year-old walks into a production meeting and gives off Peyton Manning vibes, people take notice. And when that same 23-year-old leads his team to 14 wins and the brink of a conference championship, it’s not just potential anymore.
It’s production. It’s presence.
It’s the beginning of something real.