Drake Maye vs Joe Burrow: Who Should You Start?
Two quarterbacks who will land on plenty of the same rosters in 2026. Drake Maye (New England Patriots) finished the 2025 season averaging 21.1 fantasy points per game in 17 games. Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals) came in at 17.4 PPG over 8 games. The gap is real but not insurmountable with the right matchup.
Drake Maye carries a 3.7-point PPG advantage from the 2025 season. That baseline matters, but it is one input among several. Matchup difficulty, scoring trends, and injury reports move the needle week to week, which is why the best answer changes depending on when you are asking.
Drake Maye offers meaningful rushing upside with 450 yards on the ground in 2025, which separates his floor from a pocket passer like Joe Burrow (1809 passing yards, 17 touchdowns). In games where the passing matchup looks ugly, that rushing production can be the entire difference on a start/sit call.
Drake Maye has his bye in Week 14, and Joe Burrow rests in Week 12. 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.
