Drake Maye, who overplays Caleb Williams, was not on the Patriots’ bingo card

One of the more discussed topics in the days leading up to the Patriots’ Week 10 matchup with the Bears surrounded rookie quarterbacks Drake Maye and Caleb Williams. It would be the first time the pair would meet in their respective NFL careers, fueling even more curiosity about how each would fare midway through the season.

Williams had been the presumptive first pick since last October, so it was clear that Chicago would be the team to get their new quarterback. The other top prospects, Maye and Jayden Daniels, were considered the second best players at the position, and they shifted as the weeks leading up to the draft.

Who was the better player was hotly debated, with multiple arguments supporting both players on any given day. But based on how Daniels has played for the Commanders this season starting in Week 1, many thought he was the clear front-runner.

While that may still be true, seeing how Maye performed on Sunday compared to how Williams played, just like analysts would sell us in the pre-draft process, there didn’t seem to be much of a difference between the two.

In fact, Maye outplayed Williams by a mile, and if you didn’t know better, you might think the Patriots quarterback was the first overall pick earlier this year.

Some analysts suggested Maye was the one rookie to sit and learn behind a veteran while Daniels and Williams were day one. Given their current roster structures, the Patriots went with Jacoby Brissett as the Week 1 starter instead, eventually naming Maye the QB1 in Week 6.

The decision to do so will certainly be debated until the end of time, especially since he has played at a high level every game since. But you could also say that learning the game from the sidelines in the first five games ultimately benefited him in the long run, which was evident watching Williams this week.

The Bears weren’t an overall better situation for a rookie quarterback to walk into, with several new members of the coaching staff and a weakened offensive line. But Williams inherited a loaded offense from the receiving corps and solid tight ends and running backs, which was and still is a more desirable roster to work with than Maye.

So on the surface, he should have been the rookie playing the best this season.

He had a few weeks of that, but the struggles were more than evident against the Patriots, and it made the Patriots look like the winners of the draft this year despite the countless analysts thinking they might have made the wrong pick.

This could just be chalked up to an in-season plateau as mounting issues are rumored to plague the Bears stemming from a lack of confidence in the head coach. If so, there shouldn’t be any concerns regarding Williams’ development. But if it’s deeper than that and he’s already on his way back, the Patriots are lucky to have the quarterback moving up and not back.

Maye has already shown grit, leadership and tenacity the guy in the long run, and that’s exactly what New England has been looking for the past four years. The rookie has already proven he’s the real deal in just 4.5 games, something we didn’t see from Mac Jones in nearly four years.

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