QBs Maye, Penix gaining traction??? …While the majority of NFL observers still believe that Washington will select LSU QB Jayden Daniels with the second pick overall at this month’s draft, there is a growing sense that it may not be quite a done deal, especially if the Commanders consider Daniels, the reigning Heisman Trophy holder, to be too slight as he’s a running QB who goes a somewhat spindly 6-3, 210. close to 6-4 and only 210 pounds. And while there have been some recent rumors about Washington perhaps liking Michigan’s JJ McCarthy for the 2nd pick, it does appear that if there is any discussion at all about who the Commanders take at that spot, its between Daniels and North Carolina’s Drake Maye who at 6-4, 227 is built more like a prototype pocket passer. One also gets the feeling that New England has kind of focused in on Maye with the 3rd pick. Jerod Mayo, the Patriots new head coach gushed at a recent interview in regards to the former Tar Heel QB: “He brings a lot of energy. You can tell he has that leadership ability. And also the exciting part about a guy like Drake Maye is the ceiling. Like, there is really no ceiling with a guy like that. Now, in saying that, when we’re trying to put together this roster, I know a lot of people look at the ceiling, but you also got to kind of see how low is the floor? And I would say that a guy like Drake Maye, he has a lot of room to grow. He’s a young guy. Honestly, he hasn’t played football nearly as much as these other guys. So that’s definitely something that we’ve looked at, but he definitely is going to develop.”
At the same time, there is an even more interesting story developing regarding Washington’s Michael Penix who until literally just a couple of days ago was being thought of as a likely early second rounder, in large part because of his age – he’s already 24 – and rather long injury history which includes a couple of ACLs. However, the narrative changed when the Giants, who have the 6th pick but were looking increasingly like they were going to miss out on the top 4 QBs this year, opted not to attend Maye’s pro day last week, but pivoted and headed west to take in Penix’ workout at Washington. For the record, the Giants also took Penix out to dinner after his pro day and will have him in for one of their ’30’ visits. That has left Giants fans wondering how the team was actually going to draft Penix as he still doesn’t look like a particularly good value at #6 and certainly won’t last until the Giants pick in the middle of the second round. However, the Giants are not the only team showing a recent interest in Penix as he’ll also have visits with Minnesota, Denver and Las Vegas. And for those who haven’t been paying attention or have been out of the universe of late, those three teams, which have the 11th, 12th and 13th picks respectively, have, like the Giants, been exploring their options to get up into the first 4-5 picks in order to take one of the top 4 QBs. What does it mean? Who knows but it clearly is something to watch over the next few weeks.
