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Drake Maye hit Cam Newton’s Superman celebration against the Carolina Panthers in a 42-13 Week 4 victory on Sunday afternoon.
While it may have looked like a taunt of the team that Newton spent the majority of his career with and made a Super Bowl 50 appearance with, the North Carolina native actually had a different reason for it.
“Big fan,” Maye said, via Boston Herald reporter Zack Cox, after defeating Newton’s former team. “He was my favorite player growing up. Pretty cool.”
It was Newton who inspired Maye to become the player he is, and he showed shades of him when he ran the ball in for a five-yard touchdown to give the Patriots a 14-6 lead before he made the tribute for his childhood hero to celebrate.
Maye finished the game with 203 passing yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions on 14-for-13 passing. He also added 11 rushing yards and the aforementioned touchdown before he was taken out of the game for Joshua Dobbs to avoid injury in a blowout.
Newton inspired Maye as a kid when he led the Panthers to a 15-1 record, won MVP and eventually led the team to its second-ever Super Bowl appearance. He threw for 3,837 yards, 35 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while running for another 636 yards and 10 touchdowns that season.
He maintained that level of play until 2018 after sustaining multiple injuries and ended up finding himself wearing the same uniform Maye wears now. He was Tom Brady’s successor in New England for a brief moment, leading them to a 7-8 record and a playoff appearance. New England then chose Mac Jones as the quarterback of the future.
Only Jones’ disappointing tenure as quarterback of the Patriots separates Maye from his hero in the franchise’s line of succession.
The second-year standout out of the University of North Carolina looks to have a promising future after starting the season with a 2-2 record with 785 passing yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.
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