Photo by Kara Durrette/Getty Images On a pre-draft process that just doesn’t make sense I want to pre-empt this article by saying that some of what I’m going to say, including the thrust of my point, has already been said excellently by Joseph Acosta at the SB Nation mothership. I did think, though, that what we’re seeing happen and be discussed regarding Drake Maye and the NFL Draft deserves a fan perspective, so here we are. I’m just going to come right out and say it: The national conversation around Drake Maye, and specifically the way it has come about, is downright silly. It would be one thing if Maye had given any indication that the preternatural traits he showed in 2022 were a fluke, but that’s not what happened. Instead, after nearly two full years of being considered absolutely no worse than this draft’s second-best quarterback prospect and in a tier belonging solely to him and Caleb Williams, the consensus among laypeople, and apparently actual NFL decision-makers, is that he’s suddenly not that guy and well below the top, jockeying with the good-not-great prospects of the class. Depending on who you listen to, the concern is his footwork (messy, but pretty easily fixable), his ball security (best quarterback in the class at avoiding turnover-worthy plays, and while his interception numbers went up this year, a lot of it was down to inconsistent receiving personnel and a bad interior offensive line), his throwing motion (nah), or the fact that he had his worst games the last two games of the year, against the two best defenses he played (complete coaching failures let him down in both). I haven’t yet seen anybody put all these concerns together, probably because they know that if they did, they’d be describing a Day 2-3 prospect, and everybody knows that’s ridiculous — but then you realize that if everybody thinks the other concerns are fake or overblown, maybe they all are. Even without the excuses, which I think are entirely valid, these don’t feel like major downsides to Maye as a prospect, and they seem to me to reflect him being held to a different standard than his peers. The thing that frustrates me most is that seemingly everybody on the football internet that I trust to know ball and have well-founded opinions has not wavered in rating Maye highly. Draft Analyst Dane Brugler of The Athletic, the hardest worker in sports this time of year, has him as QB2. Derrik Klassen of Reception Perception has him as his QB1. The Athletic’s film expert, Ted Nguyen, went into the tape to compare Maye with Jayden Daniels and concluded that “After studying both quarterbacks closely, Maye might be closer to challenging Williams than he is to Daniels as a prospect.” Benjamin Solak at The Ringer put together this great video challenging the reasons that the internet seemed to have fallen out of love with Maye. NFL Tiktok thought leader Theo Ash has consistently advocated, with the film to back him up, that Maye and Williams are the two first-overall-caliber quarterback prospects in this draft. I have no idea why, then, the intel from NFL front offices seems to mirror that of laypeople and not the people who have shown they know what they’re talking about, but it’s what’s happening. As of right now, Jayden Daniels’ odds to be the #2 pick in the draft are well in front of anybody else’s and growing further. Beyond that, it’s so easy, in my view, to see why Drake is an elite prospect. He is the best in the class, and will immediately be among the NFL’s elite, at targeting the deep middle of the field, which is going to be an incredible gift after the NFL’s recent Cover-2 revolution. He understands where pressure is going to come from and maximizes his pocket time like the best of them, and is also comfortable creating and finding escape routes when he needs to. He’s unique in the class for having the kind of frame he does, which lets him take contact and still make plays as a runner and passer, which is where some of his most viral highlights have come from — the lefty pass against Pittsburgh, the touchdown to Copenhaver against South Carolina, the fourth-down conversion against Duke, last year’s touchdown to Josh Downs against Miami, we all know the ones. He processes windows post-snap, especially at the intermediate level of the field, with the best of them. And for all the talk of a 2023 regression, I should note that in a new (and worse) offensive system and with a new (and worse) quarterbacks coach, he maintained his yards-per-attempt average across the two years. On a per-throw basis, he’s still that guy; it was the things around him that changed. Maye is still going to be a top-5 pick, so the effects of this are minimal, I guess. UNC gets a marquee draft pick in the league either way, which is the big deal as far as this site is confirmed. Maybe the frustration is down to me being a hater and not wanting the league to gift the New England Patriots, picking at #3, another great quarterback, especially one I’ll want to root for. Or maybe it’s down to feeling that it’s being overlooked to what extent Maye carried last year’s UNC team to an even moderately successful season, in the face of team coverage that is raring into form to proclaim that this, finally, is the year that Mack Brown has gotten everything right that he promised would be right the past three years of UNC football. Perhaps it’s just me wanting online football discussion to be a little better informed, especially when that lack of information is mirroring NFL staffs — as a Panthers fan, it is incredibly frustrating to see an owner with no football knowledge beyond that of a casual fan involve himself in decision-making, so that process being replicated is annoying. But it’d make me happy, at the very least, if in these last two weeks, the conversation around Drake Maye started making some actual sense and he got the respect I strongly believe he deserves. If he doesn’t... I guess he’ll just have to get it once he’s on the field in the league. Just not for the Patriots, please.

We’re entering new crafting phases with my youngest child. She loves to create – and she’ll create for any holiday or special day. Close to her birthday is Earth Day and these are really fun for the kids that enjoy a good craft, reading, and celebrating the earth. One thing to know about my child... Read the Post The post Create Earth Day bookmarks with this easy tutorial and template appeared first on Love, Jaime.

Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images The Heels’ search for a big man continues. Hubert Davis has been laser-focused this offseason when it comes to finding his next starting big man. He has already reached out to Aaron Bradshaw and Oumar Ballo, but now another name has entered the chat: Tennessee transfer Jonas Aidoo. For those who aren’t familiar, Aidoo is a 6’11 center from Durham, NC. Things started off pretty quiet for the first couple of seasons of his career, but during the 2023-24 season Aidoo started to show a lot of growth in his game and played a sizable role in Tennessee’s success story this season. Aidoo finished his junior campaign averaging 11.4 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while also averaging 1.8 blocks. His season was good enough to earn him Second Team All-SEC, as well as SEC All-Defensive Team. Right now 247Sports has Aidoo ranked as the 10th-best available player in the transfer portal. The only player that Davis has been in contact with that is ranked higher is Ballo, who is the top-ranked transfer. It is worth noting that Ballo has crystal ball projections that have him going to Indiana, so recent developments could be taking place in hopes of keeping some good options on the table. Aidoo isn’t someone who is going to stretch the floor, much like Ballo wouldn’t, but he is a guy that would be reliable in the paint and a beast on defense. Landing Aidoo would be a big enough signing that it would easily keep Carolina in the national conversation while teams around the country continue to dismantle and load up their roster. What do you think of UNC’s latest target? Let us know in the comments below.