ESPN’s Mina Kimes Considers Patriots’ Drake Maye Rightful MVP Favorite

Drake Maye has jumped back ahead of Matthew Stafford as the betting favorite to win the NFL MVP award. Mina Kimes feels the New England Patriots quarterback warrants that status.

The ESPN analyst labeled Maye the rightful MVP front-runner on her “Mina Kimes Show” podcast. Kimes isn’t dinging the second-year star for New England’s schedule after Maye led a 33-15 victory over the New York Giants on Monday night.

“I do not watch him and go, ‘Wow, he’s feasting on easy competition.’ Maybe more so than any other quarterback, and this is why I believe he is correctly the MVP favorite at this point, he is so obviously the engine of this offense and this team,” Kimes said.

Maye delivered on the primetime stage, completing 24 of 31 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns. The 23-year-old has a league-best 111.9 quarterback rating this season.

“I probably believe in this quarterback right now more than almost every other quarterback in the NFL,” Kimes declared.

It wasn’t shocking to see the Patriots improve to 11-2 at the expense of the 2-11 Giants. However, Kimes noted that Maye was playing without starting left tackle Will Campbell and left guard Jared Wilson against a dangerous Big Blue pass rush.

“It never, at all, felt to me in this game he was overwhelmed by pressure,” Kimes said. “Time and time again, I’m just watching them thinking, ‘Man, Drake Maye makes everyone else’s life easier.’

“Drake Maye stepping up in the pocket and letting rushers go by. Drake Maye is holding onto the football in the face of pressure. Drake Maye is making difficult throws.”

While Maye ranks highly in most quarterback metrics, Kimes paid special attention to his league-leading 52 percent completion rate on passes thrown into tight windows. The “NFL Live” panelist pointed out that few quarterbacks are even at 40 percent.

“His accuracy on some of these throws — at this point, I expect the ball to be perfect,” Kimes said, “And almost always it is.”