FOXBORO — There were three obvious first-round talents at quarterback entering the 2024 NFL Draft, and the Bears, Commanders and Patriots should all feel overjoyed with who they each came away with.

Through nine weeks of the 2024 season, it appears there was no wrong choice atop the draft.

Caleb Williams was viewed as a generational talent and the clear choice at No. 1 overall for the Bears, second-overall pick Jayden Daniels and the Commanders have seen the most success in Year 1, and No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye is one of the few bright spots for a 2-7 Patriots team.

Williams and Maye will do battle this Sunday in Chicago, and both rookie quarterbacks have shown superstar potential.

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The 4-4 Bears have started Williams since Week 1, and he’s completed 61.4% of his passes for 1,665 yards with nine touchdowns and five interceptions while adding 221 rushing yards on 38 attempts, 20 of which have been designed runs.

Maye, with a lesser roster, has completed 65.6% of his passes for 770 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions while adding 209 rushing yards and a touchdown on 21 attempts, all scrambles, in half as many games.

Maye has a 53.0 QBR, while Williams’ is 41.9. Maye has been on target on 78.3% of his passes with 7.1 intended air yards per attempt, while Williams has been on target on 68.9% of. his passes with 8.1 intended air yards per attempt. Maye ranks second behind Daniels among qualified rookie quarterbacks with a 66.5 overall PFF grade, while Williams is fourth behind Bo Nix, another first-rounder, with a 61.1 mark. Williams’ 59.2 passing grade is higher than Maye’s 57.1 mark. Maye ranks higher in EPA (expected points added) per play, success rate and completion percentage over expectation.

“He’s a very good player,” Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo said of Williams. “This guy is able to extend plays. He’s very athletic. I watched him a little bit coming out and then really just diving into the tape.

“He’s elusive. He has great vision in the pocket, and I would say he scrambles more to make throws. Not as much — on the other side, you go against some quarterbacks in there, they’ll take off and get down the field. Not saying that he doesn’t do that, but he definitely does a good job keeping his eyes down the field and making those throws.”

Added Maye: “Yeah, I think the play is never over with Caleb. That’s the biggest thing. I think it’s his talent of throwing, making difficult throws. The normal, the regular eye of your quarterback, you kind of see, ‘man, that’s a good throw.’ I think watching them play the Jags earlier this year, he hit Keenan Allen on a little seam, back shoulder. You see throws like that, and you take that for granted. He’s just so talented. I think, like I said, getting to know him and seeing him compete. We’ve never played each other, so it’s the first time, so it’ll be pretty cool.”

With more scrambles in half as many snaps, Maye is a quarterback who is more willing to scramble to run rather than to keep his eyes downfield and throw the ball.

Maye (37.1%) has also faced a higher pressure rate than Williams (36%), though only slightly.

“Obviously, I’m a passer first. I want to be a passer in this league. You’ve got to be a passer in this league to be successful. I’m trying to find these guys. When they’re dropping seven and rushing four, and there’s some rush lanes, and the Titans had a defensive mentality to sit back in zone and everybody’s looking at me, I’m like, ‘yeah, I’m going to go make a play.’ So I think there’s different times,” Maye said Wednesday. “Times in man, we’ve got guys running away that you can make some scramble plays. But, yeah, I’m trying to be a passer first and help these guys pick up the first downs.”

Both Maye and Williams have struggled under pressure this season with PFF grades under 50. PFF has charted Maye with six big-time throws and nine turnover-worthy plays in four games, while Williams has eight big-time throws and nine turnover-worthy plays in eight starts.

Maye has known Williams since they were in high school, competing at the Elite 11 camp together. The Patriots rookie acknowledged that going against another quarterback in his draft class would give him some extra juice this week.

“We were friends, and I enjoyed watching him do his thing. Now I get a chance to compete,” Maye said. “So, anytime you’re going against a rookie quarterback in the same class, or any quarterback in your class in general, it’s a little extra. I’m looking forward to going out there and getting a chance to play the Bears.”

The Patriots gained 316 yards (295 net yards when subtracting penalties) in Sunday’s loss to the Titans. Maye accounted for 301 of them with his 206 passing yards and 95 rushing yards. He wasn’t perfect in the game, with two interceptions and a lost fumble, but he’s also the only reason his team was competitive at all.

Mayo has been pleased with what he’s seen from the UNC product through four games.

“This is what we saw as we went through the process. We spent a lot of time with Drake. The scouts spent a lot of time with him. I spent a lot of time with him. We had good one-on-one conversations, and this is what we expected,” Mayo said. “In saying that, he’s a very coachable guy, and talking to his coach in college, he said the exact same thing. He’s a competitor. You talk to his dad, he says the exact same thing. So, I think this, from a mentality standpoint, this is who he is, and we appreciate that mindset.”

A certain subset of Patriots fans bemoaned two late-season wins that took them out of the running for Williams and the No. 1 overall pick. Through the first half of the season, it appears the Patriots couldn’t go wrong with any of the top three quarterbacks, and Maye looks like their guy for the future.