The year of New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye continues.
After being named an MVP finalist, and a second team All-Pro, the second-year Maye was just named the 2025 Bert Bell Award winner, given annually by the Maxwell Football Club to the best professional football player.
Maye has continued to be at the top of the NFL charts in 2025, leading his Patriots to a league-best 14-3 record and a spot in next week’s Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks. He led the league in multiple passing statistical categories, including completion percentage (72%), yards per attempt (8.9) and passing rating (113.5). He will also become just the youngest quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl, at just 23 years of age.
The yearly award is named after Bert Bell, a Pro Football Hall of Famer who was the co-founder of the Philadelphia Eagles. From 1946 to 1959, Bell was the commissioner of the NFL and helped install the NFL Draft.
Maye Continues To Earn Honor After Honor
According to the club’s official website, the Maxwell Football Club “presents some of football’s most prestigious honors, including the Maxwell Award for the nation’s top college player and the Chuck Bednarik Award for defensive excellence, along with awards recognizing outstanding coaches, student-athletes, and contributors at all levels of football.” It was founded in 1935 by Bell, and is named in honor of his friend Robert “Tiny” Maxwell.
Maye was also named the All-AFC quarterback by the Pro Football Writers of America, and was selected to his second-straight Pro Bowl. The always-humble quarterback kept it simple when he was asked about being named to the Pro Bowl earlier this season.
“It’s obviously a great honor,” he said, per NESN’s Andrew Gould. “Don’t want to put that to bed like it’s not a cool deal — it really is — but like I said, we got some more important games ahead. I’m looking forward to that.”
Some of those important games — playoff wins over the Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos — has New England sitting a win away from its seventh Super Bowl title in franchise history, and first since Super Bowl LIII in 2018. Maye’s currently listed as questionable for the game with a right shoulder injury and an illness, but should suit up for kickoff.
“I’m just trying to do whatever I can to get back to 100%,” Maye said on Jan. 29. “I think a lot of people in that locker room would say the same thing — having a two week break is nice to rest a little more and get back to know the Seahawks as good as I can. Looking forward to getting out to practice and trying to transfer that to live game reps.”
