The New England Patriots have been one of the NFL’s biggest surprises this season. While many expected second-year quarterback Drake Maye to show improvement and new head coach Mike Vrabel to bring a winning culture to New England, few predicted the Patriots would sit at 8-2 and atop the AFC East after ten weeks.
With how good Maye and the offense have looked this season, a Super Bowl-winning quarterback boldly compared New England’s current offense under Maye to the Tom Brady era.
Super Bowl-Winning QB Compares Drake Maye’s Patriots Offense to Tom Brady’s
There’s no denying how good Maye has been in 2025. He’s emerged as one of the league’s top quarterbacks, ranking third among NFL signal-callers according to PFSN’s QBi metric and establishing himself as a legitimate MVP contender.
Under the second-year quarterback, the offense as a whole has taken a significant step forward, ranking 10th in the NFL this season according to PFSN’s OFFi metric. Maye’s play has drawn attention from many, including former Super Bowl champion and longtime NFL backup Chase Daniel.
On the “Dan Patrick Show,” Daniel explained that watching the 2025 Patriots offense with Maye at the helm reminds him a lot of Brady’s days in New England.
“When I watch the film of Drake Maye, and I watch the New England Patriots, how they operate on offense, how different in personell groupings they are, their shifts and their motions, their play calls, the way he’s reading, it reminds me a lot of those 12 [Brady] days back in New England,” Daniel said.
It makes sense that the offense under Maye resembles Brady’s era, as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator this season is Josh McDaniels, who held the same role in New England from 2012 to 2021.
Daniel clarified that he is not saying Maye is Brady, but emphasized that the way the offense is operating this season is very similar to the way the Brady-led offense operated in New England.
“I’m not saying he’s 12, I’m not saying he’s Brady,” Daniel said. He later added, “Just the way the offense is on the field, it does look like the Tom Brady days in terms of how they’re deploying offensively to attack defenses. ”
Being compared to a player many consider the greatest of all time is certainly high praise for Maye. While he may not be at Brady’s level yet, he’s playing at an exceptionally high level and is one of the main reasons the Patriots have been so successful this season.
The Brady-era Patriot offenses were among the most efficient in NFL history. They often produced results without an elite supporting cast, which, like Daniel pointed out, is similar to what Maye is doing this season.
Maye may not be Brady, but the offense is unquestionably one of the best in the league. If he and the Patriots maintain this level of play, there’s a strong chance they could achieve postseason success similar to the Brady-led New England teams.