Ex-Tom Brady Coach Believes Drake Maye Has This Similar Characteristic

Clyde Christensen has worked with some of the best quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. Christensen coached Tom Brady after the legendary New England Patriots quarterback left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was in Indianapolis during the respective tenures of Colts superstars Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, too.

Christensen does not want to compare Drake Maye, who the Patriots selected third overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, to those players. He acknowledged it would be unfair given the longevity of Brady and Manning, specifically. After all, Maye hasn’t played a game yet.

But when Christensen, now a special advisor to North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown, worked with Maye during the 2023 season and pre-draft process, he did see similar traits and characteristics to the greats. And it’s those traits, among other things, that make Christensen believe Maye will be great himself.

“You need some luck, you need to stay healthy, you need some teammates, you need a lot of things to go with it,” Christensen said Friday during a video conference with New England media. “But he processes information extremely well, a lot like Peyton (Manning). He has a humbleness and a humility like Tom (Brady). Players play for him. He has that kind of humility that just attracts teammates and he’s going to be a great teammate. There’s nobody in our locker room where you would find a bad word about him. And he just fits in, he’s one of the guys and yet he’s able to lead and rally people together and call people out if you need to, but he does it in a good way.”

The latter part is what Christensen believes is Maye’s most similar trait to Brady. Christensen stressed Maye’s ability to communicate with teammates, perfectly balancing positive reinforcement and constructive criticism.

And as Brady’s quarterbacks coach for three seasons in Tampa Bay, Christensen believes the way the seven-time Super Bowl champion married those two communication styles into his leadership was a major part of the Buccaneers’ success.

“I think he’s (Maye) a little bit different than Tom in that he has a different style, obviously,” Christensen said in reference to his on-field play. “But I think he does have that awareness of what’s going on around, which is huge. It’s a huge thing to have. When do you jump the offensive line? When do you build them up? When do you give the receivers a kick in the butt? When do you hug them up? I think he does have a knack for that, an awareness. And that when and where and how is huge.

“I don’t think that’s a small characteristic to share with Tom. Tom was a savant at that, just could read the sideline and he could be as patient as anyone I’ve seen and could be boisterous in getting people going. But no one felt demeaned necessarily, it wasn’t personal. It was just, ‘We need to find a way to score a touchdown.'”

I don’t think that’s a small characteristic to share with Tom.

Clyde Christensen, Tar Heels senior advisor and former Buccaneers QB coach

Christensen continued: “I’ve always thought that was one of the characteristics he (Brady) had and this kid has that characteristic. Like ‘Hey, in the offseason these guys aren’t coming to work,’ whatever those things are, ‘Hey, we got to throw,’ ‘We got to do this,’ ‘We got to get this done,’ those kind of things, that’s a great thing to have in your quarterback. Especially where it is a rebuild, where it’s going to be some young folks, guys who haven’t played together. That’s going to be a big thing to bring them together.”

Christensen also praised the 6-foot-4, 223-pound Maye for his athleticism. He noted Luck was similar in the fact he was a big quarterback (6-foot-4, 234 pounds at the NFL Combine) who could run. Christensen called Maye deceivingly fast and agile. Maye’s ability to keep a play alive with his athleticism, and ultimately make off-schedule plays, has been praised by countless analysts.

Now it will be up to Maye to make the most of those traits at the next level. The 21-year-old doesn’t have to be the next Brady or Manning, of course. But the sentiments from Christensen, who has more than four decades of coaching experience including 27 years in the NFL, surely portray a quarterback with star potential.