I can see the slight arm strength difference between him and JD but the difference is JD seems to be ahead in the processing time so sort of equalizes this between the two for a toss up.
On the arm strength, it's not so much that you see it when Maye torques it because we're used to watching NFL football where it's commonplace. It shows up more on JD's film when the strength is lacking. He has those "back across the field" throws to wide open guys just sitting and waiting for the ball. And they do wait, because the ball takes a while to arrive, and the "wide open" window closes by the time it gets there.
Also a lot of underthrown longballs from JD, where the 2 studs have enough gap to slow up and catch it regardless. I'll give you that maybe a few of those he knew he had the space and made safe throws instead of risking overthrowing, but most of those balls are in the air before such a choice can be made.
JD processing faster is mitigated by how often his receivers run free, how quickly he dismisses MOF options because of the tougher reads, and DM's lack of both of those things, in my opinion. Again, not saying JD is bad at this at all, just that circumstances skew the perception in difference.
Ran a lot more than I thought naturally much less yards to show for it
And much less abuse.
@kicksavedave has been saying a lot lately that JD curbed his reckless tendencies later in the year and I just don't see it. He definitely knows how to slide and also occasionally gets out of bounds, but most of the time he gets tackled, willingly.
It's awesome that he has the ability to run away from people, but that will diminish (both with age and right away because the NFL is faster). DM takes what they give him, period. He can run and runs when he should, but he's also more inclined to protect himself when he does. He takes on defenders sometimes, but because he can. He has the wingspan to throw an arm out and push off. He takes a few ill-advised hits, but far less often.
Nice middle of the field strike at 17:40.
Those middle of the field throws for Maye are pretty key, even when he misses the tight windows or there are drops. It's the reads and the confidence to gun it in there that stand out. Seeing that the cover LBs bite on a crosser, making the window for a completion super tight, but throwing it anyway BECAUSE the LBs left that space behind them when they bit. Seeing a read like that (sometimes causing it with a look), one step ahead, is pro-level, and having the arm to fire it in there... That's how you leverage smaller receivers like Terry and Jahan.
Not a lot of that from JD, but it's unclear to me whether that's just play design. So much to the outside from his offense. Again, not saying he can't do those things, just that it's more clear that DM can and does on a more regular basis (and it's a huge part of the NFL game).
Now here’s one thing I don’t understand: why does daniels get knocked for having elite receivers when burrow had jefferson and chase?
I'm personally not knocking him for having those receivers. It just makes evaluating more difficult because there's a "chicken or the egg" aspect to it. Those guys run free pretty frequently. Makes processing less of a thing and YAC more of a thing. But you still have to make the throws, and JD does. He has far fewer glaring misses than DM for sure, and a bunch of just plain beautiful, perfectly-placed passes. But Drake has a bunch of beauties, too, and the misses aren't all that alarming given his overall completion rate.
Like
@Holtbyisms said, this might all just boil down to the type of QB they want in their new offense because both of these guys are insanely good prospects.
In other words, their differences in style stand out way more to me than differences in ability.
