Drake Maye is going to the Super Bowl in his second NFL season, and the symmetry with Patriots history borders on eerie. Nearly a quarter-century ago, another young New England quarterback took the franchise to the championship game in Year 2, launching a dynasty that would reshape the league. Maye won’t claim to be the next Tom Brady. But when he takes the field at Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl LX, he’ll become just the ninth quarterback in NFL history to start the big game in his second season.
Maye punched his ticket with a 10-7 win over Denver in the AFC Championship, a grinding, snowy affair that felt less like a coronation and more like a statement of intent. The Patriots are back. And the 23-year-old at the controls has put together one of the most remarkable sophomore campaigns in league history.
Drake Maye’s Path to Super Bowl LX Mirrors Brady’s 2001 Run
The list of second-year quarterbacks to start a Super Bowl reads like a Hall of Fame roll call: Dan Marino (1984), Kurt Warner (1999), Tom Brady (2001), Ben Roethlisberger (2005), Colin Kaepernick (2012), Russell Wilson (2013), Joe Burrow (2021), and Brock Purdy (2023). Four of those eight won the Lombardi Trophy: Warner, Brady, Roethlisberger, and Wilson.
Maye enters Super Bowl LX having broken the record for most wins by a first- or second-year quarterback in NFL history with 17, surpassing Wilson, Warner, and Marino, who each had 16. That context matters. He isn’t simply getting carried to the big game by a dominant defense. He led the league in completion percentage (72.0%), passer rating, and QBR during the regular season while throwing for 4,394 yards with 31 touchdowns against just eight interceptions.
The parallels to Brady’s 2001 run extend beyond the surface. Both took over franchises in transition. Both played under head coaches building championship cultures. Brady had Bill Belichick, then in his second season, establishing the foundation of what would become a dynasty; Maye has Mike Vrabel, himself a three-time Super Bowl champion as a Patriots linebacker under that same system. The Brady-Belichick dynasty got its major break in a wild, snowy playoff game. Maye just won the AFC Championship in a snowstorm.
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“I think that’s what you play the game for, and that’s what makes the National Football League what it is,” Maye said. “I mean, it’s special.”
The Patriots went 4-13 in Maye’s rookie season. They finished 14-3 this year, a 10-win improvement that tied a league record. New England earned its first division title since 2019, its first playoff victory since the 2018 Super Bowl run, and its first AFC Championship appearance since Brady’s final season in Foxborough.
What Separates the Second-Year Super Bowl Winners from the Rest
The four second-year quarterbacks who won Super Bowls share one trait that eludes the four who lost: they didn’t beat themselves. Warner’s Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans 23-16 in the game that ended with “The Tackle.” Brady led New England to a 20-17 upset of those same Rams two years later. Roethlisberger’s Steelers beat Seattle 21-10 in Super Bowl XL. Wilson’s Seahawks demolished Denver 43-8 behind the Legion of Boom defense.
The losers tell a different story. Marino threw two interceptions against San Francisco’s dominant defense. Kaepernick couldn’t overcome a 28-6 third-quarter deficit against Baltimore. Burrow took seven sacks and couldn’t move the ball in the fourth quarter against the Rams. Purdy struggled against Kansas City’s relentless pass rush.
MORE: Super Bowl Winners By Year
Maye’s playoff performance has been uneven. Through three postseason games, he has thrown four touchdowns against two interceptions but has fumbled six times, losing three. Vrabel hasn’t minced words about the turnover issues.
“We have to be able to not get careless with the football. We can’t be reckless,” Vrabel said before the AFC Championship. His message to Maye for the biggest game of his career: “Lead our offense, be the conductor, and help us handle the environment.”
The environment will be hostile. Maye’s opponent remains uncertain pending the NFC Championship result between the Seahawks and Rams, but either matchup presents challenges. Seattle boasts the league’s best scoring defense. Los Angeles features MVP candidate Matthew Stafford, who knows something about waiting years for a championship opportunity.
Maye isn’t waiting. He’s arrived at the doorstep of a championship in Year 2, walking a path that Brady, Warner, and Wilson traveled before him. Whether he joins them as champions or falls short like Marino, Kaepernick, Burrow, and Purdy depends on what happens Feb. 8 in Santa Clara. The history he’s already made can’t be taken away. The history still available to him is what makes the next two weeks so compelling.
