Drake Maye’s Aaron Rodgers handshake polarized NFL fans: ‘Waiting for the GOAT’

Patriots fans got their first regular-season glimpse of Drake Maye on Thursday night, but any goodwill he had built up with the team’s supporters might have been lost after the game. 

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that Maye lingered on the field as Aaron Rodgers finished an interview with Amazon to give the Jets quarterback a postgame handshake after the Jets’ 24-3 win. 

But it was what Maye told Garafolo that really set Patriots world — at least vocal folks on social media — off. 

“I’m waiting for the GOAT,” Maye said, per Garafolo, sending some New Englanders into a tizzy. 

“Drake Maye called who the GOAT?!?!,” @ICSully wrote on x. “Get that young man off my team man.”

Patriots fans, of course, are partial to Tom Brady, who won six Super Bowls in New England and another with the Buccaneers, as the best quarterback to ever play the game. 

“Was Brady interviewing Rodgers?” @polk_fan asked on X. 

Rodgers is widely considered one of the top quarterbacks of all time, but with just one Super Bowl win under his belt, few would legitimately take his resume over Brady’s.

After Maye’s quote went viral on social media, Garafolo tried to put out the fire, positing that the young quarterback wasn’t definitively stating who was the Greatest of All Time.

“I realize this is being taken a certain way and I’m usually the captain of Team There Can Only Be One GOAT but Maye was merely recognizing Rodgers as a great QB,” Garafolo wrote on X. “Wanted a moment to show his appreciation and got it. Respect for the game and those who came before. I dig. Goodnight.”

Maye went 4-for-8 with 22 yards in garbage time during the Patriots’ loss to the Jets. 

The North Carolina product was drafted No. 3 overall by the Patriots in the 2024 NFL Draft and is considered the quarterback of the future in New England.