Baker Mayfield vs Drake Maye: Who Should You Start?
If you are choosing between Baker Mayfield and Drake Maye for your lineup, you are not alone. Baker Mayfield finished the 2025 season at 16.0 PPG for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (17 games), and Drake Maye averaged 20.7 for the New England Patriots (17 games).
That 4.7-point weekly advantage for Drake Maye is meaningful but not automatic. Fantasy football is a week-to-week sport, and the answer to "who should I start" often changes based on opponent, recent form, and game environment. Season averages set the baseline; weekly context makes the call.
Drake Maye offers meaningful rushing upside with 450 yards on the ground in 2025, which separates his floor from a pocket passer like Baker Mayfield (3693 passing yards, 26 touchdowns). In games where the passing matchup looks ugly, that rushing production can be the entire difference on a start/sit call.
Baker Mayfield has his bye in Week 9, and Drake Maye rests in Week 14. Managers rostering both need waiver wire depth at quarterback for those two weeks, and that is exactly the kind of planning DraftCall's matchup engine surfaces automatically so you are not scrambling on a Sunday morning.
