It’s no secret that New Englanders have fallen in love with Patriots quarterback Drake Maye. The 23-year-old has flipped the previous season’s 4-13 record to a Super Bowl ticket against the Seahawks. The buzz surrounding the second-year QB turned him into an NFL name to watch in mere months.
The surge in popularity can be seen clearly in the "Drake Maye Lover” Instagram account, which has more than 370,000 followers. Run by a 22-year-old Massachusetts native, the account has flooded fans’ social media feeds with memes, clips, and pictures relating to all things Maye.
The memes mostly revolve around the same smiling headshot of Maye. Here, we link some of our favorite posts over the season.
1. "Breaking - Drake Maye plays football tomorrow." A graphic that usually strikes fear in NFL fans and indicates a roster shift has been repurposed to highlight only good news: Drake Maye is playing soon.
2: The best way to start the week: "It’s Drake Maye Monday." Nobody likes Mondays, but seeing Maye’s sweet grin in your feed makes the start of the work week a bit more tolerable. It’s even sweeter if he’s playing that evening.
3: Even our glorious king throws an interception from time to time — or does he? With all of those major throws this season, he’s bound to slip up once in a while. But just when I think it’s about to land in the hands of another team’s receiver… I seem to forget what happens next.
4: Death, Taxes … Drake Maye? Pretty on the nose. But according to this meme, only three things in life are certain.
5: “You killed the man but not the idea.” Love or hate the take comparing head coach Mike Vrabrel and Maye to former head coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, it’s hard not to see it with the victories this season.
Sam Shipman can be reached at sam.shipman@globe.com.