In the NIL era, choosing between money and intuition is one of the hardest decisions. While most athletes don’t think twice about chasing greener pastures, former UNC wide receiver Josh Downs followed his heart, sacrificing NIL opportunities to stay at Chapel Hill with Mack Brown because of a $36.6 million man. Looking back, it turned out to be the best investment of his career so far.

On February 3, the Indianapolis Colts’ wide receiver hopped onto their Downs 2 Business podcast and explained why he stayed at UNC.

“After my sophomore year, I was gonna leave UNC and go to a different school, but Drake [Maye] was the quarterback. So I decided to stay, literally, because Drake was the quarterback, Josh Downs said about his motivation to stay in Chapel Hill.

“I was just like, nah. ‘I’m not gonna leave and go somewhere else.’ I think we got to do it at quarterback. So, I’m staying in Carolina, but if he wasn’t a quarterback, I would have left. That’s around the era when NIL was getting kind of hot. So I had some offers on the table, but I was like Nah, we got a good we got a good quarterback, so I’m gonna stay home.”

Despite the life-changing money being offered elsewhere, Downs chose to stay committed to Mack Brown solely because he was convinced that Maye was a special talent.

In their full 2022 season together, this duo was unstoppable. They even led the Tar Heels to the ACC Championship Game back in 2022. Moreover, Drake Maye ended that season setting a school record with 5,019 yards of total offense and 45 total touchdowns. Big chunks of those yards came from finding Downs. The former UNC star finished his college career with over 2,400 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns.

After his historic career at Chapel Hill, the New England Patriots didn’t hesitate to draft Drake Maye with the No. 3 overall pick back in the 2024 draft, signing him to a four-year, $36.6 million deal. This was the first time they took a QB in the first round since the Drew Bledsoe era.

Downs’s confidence in Maye’s talent hints at a future where, within a few years at Foxborough, he might lead the Patriots back to their dynasty era and secure their first Super Bowl victory since 2018, after concluding the regular season with a 14–3 record, 4,400 passing yards, and 31 touchdowns.

Josh Downs isn’t one bit surprised by Maye’s pro success. He had always been this good at UNC; now he’s just more polished than ever before. That should be a scary thought for the rest of the league for years to come.

Maye’s development into an elite quarterback can be directly attributed to Mack Brown’s coaching.

Credit Mack Brown: The coach behind Maye’s MVP-caliber development

Mack Brown’s key role in Drake Maye’s life began with a recruiting victory, convincing him to switch from Alabama to North Carolina in 2020. After Maye’s breakout 2022 season, Brown kept him at Chapel Hill despite NIL offers up to $5 million, with Maye later saying he stayed because of their relationship.

He even gave Maye a say in who the team hired as the new offensive coordinator. The only downside to this duo is that they just couldn’t finish the second half of the wins for 2 out of 3 years in North Carolina.

Their high point during their time together was definitely 2022, when they went 9–5 and reached the ACC Championship Game. Even though they lost their last four games that season, it was the season when NFL scouts started turning their attention to Chapel Hill.

However, in their final year together in 2023, they went 8–5. It was the same old tale once again, as the Tar Heels started their season with a 6–0 record but decided to go 2-5 in their last 7 games of the season. Despite all that, Mack Brown still said that Maye is one of the greatest players he’s ever coached to this day.