New England’s Drake Maye grew up in North Carolina and attended the previous Super Bowl held at Levi’s Stadium 10 years ago.
A 13-year-old Maye and his father watched the Carolina Panthers lose to Denver. Now he returns to Santa Clara as one of the top candidates for this season’s Most Valuable Player award.
Maye is the ninth second-year quarterback to reach the Super Bowl and aims to become the first to win it since Russell Wilson with Seattle in 2014. At 23, he will also be the second youngest QB to start a Super Bowl after Dan Marino in 1985.
Like Maye, Seattle’s current quarterback Sam Darnold was also the third overall pick when he was drafted in 2018 but his NFL journey has become a redemption story.
After struggling with the New York Jets, then Carolina, Darnold spent the 2023 season as the San Francisco 49ers’ back-up, before being thrust into the starters’ job at Minnesota.
Darnold led the Vikings to the play-offs last season but, with JJ McCarthy returning from injury, he joined Seattle in the off-season and has become just the second QB after Brady to have back-to-back 14-win seasons – and 28-year-old Darnold is the first to do it with different teams.