From the moment that a rookie Drake Maye started flying around the field, chucking bombs and running through defenders, it quickly became evident that there was only one NFL comparison to be made: Josh Allen.
Of course, nobody was placing the 22-year-old Maye at or near the level of Allen, who was in the midst of an MVP season in 2024. But in terms of play style and raw ability, the Buffalo quarterback represented an ideal ceiling for Maye’s potential.
Now three games into Year 3 for Maye, there’s a whole lot more doubt on whether Maye can fulfill that potential or whether his near-MVP season in Year 2 was a fluke.
Given the performance thus far in 2026, the doubts are well-founded. But they also might be going overboard.
With Maye having just played in his 33rd NFL game last week, here’s how his NFL start compares to Allen’s.
Maye has played in four postseason games, while Allen had just one after two years, with Maye owning a 3-1 record and making a Super Bowl appearance, which Allen still lacks.
The major difference, though, is that in 2020 — Allen’s third year — he got Stefon Diggs and began ascending to the highest level possible at the position. Coincidentally, Maye’s ascent coincided with the addition of an older Diggs in 2024, but Maye’s third season has represented a significant step backward. (The Week 1 injury to No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown, after the team let Diggs go in the offseason, is a contributing factor.)
And with Allen leading one of the NFL’s most potent offenses into this weekend’s matchup with New England, where Maye is leading one of the NFL’s worst offenses, some comparisons are sure to be made throughout the game. The timing just may not be exceptional from the Maye point of view.
“I called Drake Maye the Temu Josh Allen,” Tom E. Curran said on the Patriots Talk Podcast this week. “Maybe someday he’ll be a carbon copy, but right now there’s the aspiration that he’ll play the position that way and have success like Josh Allen over an extended period.”
Curran welcomed The Athletic’s Tim Graham, who’s covered the Bills for the duration of Allen’s career, to the podcast to offer some perspective on what Maye might be able to glean from Allen’s NFL journey.
Graham noted that the offensive coordinator changes had marked effects on the play of Allen.
“Brian Daboll was the guy who really got Josh Allen in that comfortable headspace,” Graham said, noting that Daboll kept the entire offense loose. “Now, they flipped that when Brian Daboll became the head coach of the Giants and they promoted Ken Dorsey, who is really tightly wound and there was nothing — it was just Josh Allen didn’t know whether to run or throw on a given play. You could see him thinking through everything and it just wasn’t fun for him anymore.”
The Bills fired Dorsey midseason in 2023, elevating quarterbacks coach Joe Brady to the OC position. The fact that Brady is now the head coach is a sign of how freely Allen feels playing for the 37-year-old coach.
“It all made sense that Joe Brady became the head coach. That is the ethos, the personality that Josh Allen feeds off of,” Graham added. “Not that he wasn’t doing that with [former head coach Sean] McDermott. It was more of a defensive thing with McDermott, but it was Brian Daboll who really got Josh Allen just to loosen up, and maybe that’s what he needs. … It was the fun maker, like, ‘Hey man, let’s go.'”
As it relates to Maye, Graham added: “I don’t know if if Josh McDaniels can do that, and I’m not saying that it’s apples to apples. But maybe Drake Maye just needs to find some fun again.”
As the stats show, the early years for Allen were quite similar to Maye’s. Allen was more of a prolific rusher in terms of touchdowns, while Maye has been a better passer. The issues with Maye are his sacks and ball security, both in terms of fumbles and interceptions. And while nobody will ever accuse Allen of being safe with the football, Graham pointed out that the veteran quarterback has learned how to prevent those mistakes from snowballing for multiple games.
“Once Josh Allen figured it out, he had pretty much figured it out,” Graham said. “And he’s had the lapses, like in Denver [in last year’s playoffs], like last week. He’s had those games or moments, but you could see him just evolving all the time. And with Drake Maye, he did it and has slid back in a way that Josh Allen never did. Now, that’s not to say that he can’t figure it out. But what Josh Allen’s been able to do is he has the mental side of it down, the psychology of it.”
