Drake Maye And Rome Odunze Jr. Are Eerily Similar Prospects
Many years from now, Drake Maye will have emerged as the best quarterback from the 2024 NFL Draft. Rome Odunze Jr. will be known as the best receiver in the class.
Commonalities Between The Two
Ironically, the two have a lot in common. They were both the third players taken from their respective positions; Maye was taken after Caleb Williams and Jaylen Daniels, while Odunze Jr. was selected after Marvin Harrison Jr. and Malik Nabers. Both attended large state universities, with Maye attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Odunze Jr. went to the University of Washington. Neither school is in the SEC or Big Ten, though Washington is undoubtedly a much more relevant football school than Carolina.
Within the opinion that they are the best players at their position, it is obvious that the two other players taken ahead of them aren’t. Let’s start with Maye’s two competitors, Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels.
The Wahington Commanders' draft of Daniels over Maye will go down as one of the worst draft selections in recent years.
Daniels And Williams Are Overrated
Daniels is 23 years old. He’s 6’4, sure, but also incredibly skinny at just 210 lbs (Maye is 6’4, 225). There’s a huge injury risk in there, particularly given that the best part of his game is running the football. That leads me to my next point: Daniels is a classic example of a quarterback who receives unearned praise due to his legs rather than his arm. He reminds me a lot of Robert Griffin III. The fact that he won the Heisman Trophy erroneously boosted his status as a prospect. He also played for LSU and in the SEC; there are plenty of reasons to believe that his status as a prospect was disproportionately impacted by his Heisman Trophy and the fact that he played in the SEC.
Don’t believe that Caleb Williams will be a bust think he’ll be a great player with a lengthy and successful career; however, his personality doesn’t seem to align with the idea of running a franchise, and he is also significantly smaller than Maye. He might be a bit more athletic than Maye, sure, but other than that, there isn’t much about his game that’s overtly better than Maye’s.
Nabers And Harrison Jr.
With Odunze Jr., the biggest piece is that Nabers is very similar to Daniels. They ironically played together at LSU. Nabers told the Giants in an interview that he gets frustrated if he doesn’t get the ball in games. Add that to clips of him going out to the club, and he seems like one of those classic receivers who might not have his priorities in check.
Marvin Harrison Jr. is very similar to Caleb Williams. He was the far and away top prospect at his position, and once again, do think that he’ll have a great career. This is less about him than it is about Odunze Jr., though.
Odunze Jr. has the highest contested catch rate among the three prospects. He also came across as a professional in interviews and seems like a win-first guy. He’s a phenomenal route-runner and rarely drops passes.
As said, do believe that Williams will be a great pro. Odunze Jr. is fortunate to have such a talented arm, and he will throw him the football for years to come.
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