The New England Patriots once deemed the “prototypical,” strong-armed pocket passer worthy of the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, but times have changed and that could be bad news for current prospect Drew Allar in 2026.
That’s despite Allar comparing favorably to 1993 first-overall pick and Pats great Drew Bledsoe. The comparison was made by Football Gameplan owner Emory Hunt on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast.
Hunt explained, “we grew up, Ross, where you know, a guy like Allar woulda been a clear-cut No. 1 overall pick, but the game has changed a little bit. Where you gotta be a little more athletic, and Allar can move around a little bit, but his throwing motion and his arm always remind me of Drew Bledsoe, who I was a big fan of at Washington State and also when he was first overall with the Patriots. Instantly made those guys relevant and led them to a Super Bowl in ’97.”
This is an interesting comparison, and one with no little relevance for the modern-day Patriots. A rebuilding team pinning its hopes to Drake Maye, the kind of mobile, off-script QB Hunt alluded to as the modern template for football’s most important position.
The question is can Maye’s raw athleticism and ad-libbing skills make the Patriots relevant again as quickly as Beldsoe’s traditional dropback game, including the prototype traits Hunt sees in Allar, once did?
Drew Allar Shares Good and Bad Traits With Patriots Great
When Bill Parcells selected Bledsoe ahead of Rick Mirer 30-plus years ago, he chose the classic template of a pro signal-caller. Tall, big-bodied and with a rocket for an arm.
Bledsoe ticked all of those boxes and so does Allar. The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder boasts a “rare combination of prototypical size, experience and production,” according to NFL Media Analyst Daniel Jeremiah, who compared Allar to another towering, cannon-armed passer, former Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl winner Joe Flacco.
Comparisons to Bledsoe extend beyond the physical profile. As The Ringer’s Todd McShay wrote, “Allar can be deadly accurate from the pocket to a target that is facing him, coming back to him, or cutting/crossing horizontally. He stands tall in the pocket, sees the entire field, has a beautifully smooth stroke, and drives the ball through any conditions.”
McShay is also impressed by how “For a guy with a 105-mph fastball, I’m impressed with how natural layering the football comes to him. He knows when to layer it over defenders and how to lead receivers to an open spot in zone. IT ALL APPEARS TO BE NATURAL TO HIM, which isn’t always the case with these big-armed guys.”
Those same words could’ve been written about Bledsoe who took the mid-90s NFL by storm with his gift for throwing the football. Never more so than when the second-year pro set a league record with 70 pass attempts during an overtime win over the Minnesota Vikings in 1994, per NFL Legacy.
Bledsoe was electric when in rhythm, but he had flaws similar to the deficiencies in Allar’s game. Weaknesses like how “his accuracy drops off a cliff when he’s throwing on the move—both to his right and to his left. As a long-levered guy, he also struggles when forced to improvise at the last second. He can look pretty clunky in moments when he needs to make a fast-reaction athletic move,” according to McShay.
The latter even noted “Allar also likes to give the ball a little extra pat before getting it out as he’s waiting to see the angle his WR is taking out of his break. ***He just needs to see it a quarter count longer to trust it. That’s a habit that MUST be broken.”
Holding onto and patting the ball were bad habits Bledsoe never fully shed. Combined with his immobility, they made him susceptible to the blitz and a turnover machine who threw 20 or more interceptions in a season twice during his nine-year Patriots career, per Pro Football Reference.
Yet despite the mistakes, Bledsoe powered a return to respectability today’s Patriots hope Maye can at least match.
Drake Maye Shares Early Career Parallels With Drew Bledsoe
Maye has people optimistic about the Patriots headed into his second season, just like Bledsoe did back in ’94. He’s surrounded by more talent on both sides of the ball, so keying a sudden return to the playoffs would cement Maye’s status as a rising star, just as Bledsoe did after passing the Pats to a 10-6 record and a first postseason berth in seven years.
Bledsoe had the Patriots in a Super Bowl two seasons later, but fate ensured he would only return to the big game as a backup with the 2001 squad. Fate was delivered via a crushing hit from New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis that cleared the runway for a certain Tom Brady to take Bledsoe’s job.
Not getting his job back was a bitter blow for Bledsoe, but then-head coach Bill Belichick trusted Brady. Ironically, Belichick still needed Bledsoe to step in for an injured Brady and skilfully pass the Pats beyond the Pittsburgh Steelers in that season’s AFC Championship Game.
Bledsoe’s accuracy off the bench provided a sharp rebuttal to Belichick, who “had his quiet doubts about Bledsoe — about his ability to react as quickly as the game demanded and about his accuracy throwing to his left,” according to ESPN’s Seth Wickersham.
It’s the same thing McShay has seen from Allar, who’s “also significantly less effective throwing the ball when on the run, especially to his left.”
Doubts of a different kind are being voiced about Maye. A former teammate of Bledsoe’s has sent a warning about some of the 22-year-old’s intangibles.
Defying that warning and turning his ability to run and throw off platform into some of the success Bledsoe had, will have Maye treading a similarly prolific early career path.
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