Drake Maye’s 2026 Fantasy Season
Drake Maye already made a strong case as an elite fantasy quarterback last season, finishing as the QB2 with 21.1 fantasy points per game. He threw for 4,394 yards and 31 touchdowns while adding another 450 yards and four scores on the ground, giving him a decent rushing floor. The more encouraging part was how efficient he was as a passer. Maye led the NFL in completion percentage (72.0%), yards per attempt (8.9) and passer rating (113.5), while also posting a league-best 126.1 passer rating on throws of at least 10 yards.
Some regression from those heights of efficiency would be reasonable, but adding A.J. Brown gives Maye a much better supporting cast entering 2026 and another path to offsetting it through additional passing volume and touchdowns.
Maye has also shown that he can work with whatever’s given to him. As a rookie in 2024, he averaged 18.7 fantasy points in the nine games in which he played at least 90% of New England’s snaps, despite working primarily with Hunter Henry, DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte. Stefon Diggs gave him a more established option last season and finished with 85 catches for 1,013 yards, but Maye’s connection with Boutte may be more relevant when projecting Brown. Boutte averaged 17.0 air yards per target and 12.0 yards per target while scoring six touchdowns on only 46 targets, with Maye producing a 133.2 passer rating when throwing his way.
Brown is a much more complete receiver than Boutte, but he brings the same ability to win vertically and outside the numbers while also giving Maye a much more reliable option on intermediate routes.
A.J. Brown to the Patriots
Brown is coming off a relatively quiet season by his standards, finishing with 78 catches for 1,003 yards and seven touchdowns after previously topping 1,450 receiving yards in both 2022 and 2023. His 12.9 yards per reception were also well below his career average of 15.3, so a change of scenery could revitalize him.
Despite the down year, Brown commanded a 29.5% target share and 36% of Philadelphia’s air yards last season, and his 2.9 yards per route run against man coverage ranked sixth among receivers with at least 100 such routes. Maye does not need Brown to immediately return to being a top tier receiver for this pairing to matter. Even something closer to 1,100-1,300 yards would give him a true No. 1 option that he did not have during most of his first two seasons. Maye was already one of fantasy’s best quarterbacks without Brown, so the addition gives him a legitimate chance to challenge for the overall QB1 spot in 2026.
