Drake Maye’s jaw-dropping journey from Rodgers superfan to NFL star (Getty Images)
Fast forward to 2025, and the same kid is now an NFL starter, getting compared to Rodgers by opposing coaches, while Rodgers himself is winding down what could be his final season at 41. When Drake Maye was nine years old, he watched Aaron Rodgers dismantle the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. That game didn’t just stick with him. It shaped him. Maye started studying Rodgers obsessively, right down to his throwing motion and pregame warmup routine.
The Patriots selected Maye with the third overall pick in the 2024 draft, and from the moment he arrived in New England, the Rodgers comparisons followed him. He even got his boyhood moment when the Patriots faced the Jets in Week 3 of 2024. Maye has thrown for 1,744 yards with 12 touchdowns and just two interceptions, ranking sixth in the league in passing yards. An anonymous NFL coach watching him carved up the Titans told The Athletic’s Mike Sando that a deep ball Maye threw to Mack Hollins on a 93-yard scoring drive was flat-out “Rodgers-like. Rodgers, meanwhile, just beat the Patriots in Week 3 of the 2025 season, 21-14, throwing the game-winning touchdown with two minutes left. But Maye, who finished with a 102.1 passer rating in that loss, isn’t far behind.
He would pull up warmup clips on YouTube trying to decode how Rodgers gripped the ball and released it.
I mean, he spins it with the best of ’em,” Maye said recently. “I’m waiting for the GOAT,” he told NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. He finally approached Rodgers, shook his hand, and said, “Big fan. Rodgers kept whatever he said next to himself.
It wasn’t just casual admiration. Maye carried an Aaron Rodgers phone case for years. “Shoot, it’s hard to emulate the way he spins it. That kind of fixation from a young quarterback is unusual. Most kids pick a favorite player. Maye picked a blueprint. After the game, Maye lingered on the field, waiting. Best of luck. A private conversation, he noted. The numbers in his second season suggest something real is developing. That’s not a throwaway comparison. That’s a defensive coach, watching tape, reaching for one specific name. He had the last word that day. The gap is closing faster than anyone expected.