Drake Maye Fantasy Football Outlook With A.J. Brown: Possible QB1?

Now that A.J. Brown has been traded—FINALLY—to the New England Patriots, one has to wonder what the insiders and social media accounts for the NFL and fantasy football communities will obsess over from now until the start of training camp. Actually, let’s not speculate and just enjoy that AJB is going to a QB in Drake Maye who just might form a connection made in fantasy football heaven.

Drake Maye Fantasy Outlook with A.J. Brown

To say this is a great match would be an understatement. Brown becomes the immediate WR1 for Maye, and easily the most talented pass catcher that the QB has played with. And after his near-MVP performance in 2025, Maye is the best pure passer that AJB has played with in his career. Apologies to Jalen Hurts, but even Philly fans have to agree.

And it all starts with both of their success rates against man coverage. Brown has a 96.6 PFF grade against man coverage, with Maye turning in a 67.2% completion rate against that same look. His success rate against man is 54.2%, which is fourth in the league. Cornerbacks are going to have their work cut out for them when lining up one-on-one against Brown.

Maye also was fifth in the NFL with a 9.1 ADOT, which puts him in fine company with Matthew Stafford and Lamar Jackson, two QBs who really know how to push it. With Maye now having an elite man beater in Brown, look for Maye to be taking plenty of deep shots all season.

Expect Brown’s ADP to climb past Malik Nabers and possibly Nico Collins, and maybe more, leaving him firmly in the top 10 among WRs. And it’s all because of Maye. The third-year QB was able to pass for 4,394 yards (4th in the NFL) and 31 TDs (3rd) with a WR corps that included Kayshon Boutte, DeMario Douglas, Kyle Williams and Mack Hollins.

With the upgrade of Brown on one side and Romeo Doubs on the other, Maye will have plenty of open options on most downs. The season opener in a rematch of the Super Bowl with the Seahawks will be a good test, as Brown is the type of big-bodied and physical receiver similar to Puka Nacua, who torched the Seahawks for an astounding 21 catches for 390 yards and 3 TDs in two games last season, both in Seattle. Expect Maye to take plenty of deep shots against the Seahawks in the opener to test a revamped secondary.

So much is being made about the Patriots now playing a first-place schedule, which is very much true. But look at this stretch starting on Sept. 27 and rolling through Nov. 1:

• At Jacksonville
• At Buffalo
• Raiders
• Jets
• At Chicago
• At Miami

Three of those defenses are rebuilding—Raiders, Jets and Dolphins—the Bears allowed the fourth most fantasy points to QBs last season and the Jaguars allowed 231.4 passing yards per game to QBs. And while the Bills were the stingiest pass defense against QBs (170.2 yards), how much fun will it be to watch Maye and Josh Allen going toe-to-toe in early October when the weather is still ideal in Buffalo?

Drake Maye Fantasy ADP

Maye is currently going in a pocket of QBs in Rounds 6-7 with Jayden Daniels, Jalen Hurts, Caleb Williams and Dak Prescott. This is going to be a very popular point for fantasy football managers who choose to bypass the elite passers to get not only good pocket passers, but also elite dual threats.

Maye is firmly in that group of dual-threat QBs, as he ran 103 times for 450 yards and 4 TDs. With rushing TDs fluctuating so much for quarterbacks, and with Brown taking up a lot of coverage all over the field, Maye could be left with a lot of real estate underneath that could lead to even greater production on the ground.

Maye is firmly the QB3 in our fantasy football rankings. That should not change with Allen and Jackson firmly planted in the top 2. But with an elite pass catcher in Brown and another upgrade in Doubs, Maye could surpass his stellar passing numbers from last year and even if he repeats his rushing production he could threaten those veteran studs for the overall QB1 in fantasy football.

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