It was roughly six months ago when Caleb Williams and Drake Maye were called onto the stage at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in Detroit.
In front of a sea of fans gathered in the Motor City, Williams, at No. 1 overall by the Chicago Bears, and Maye, at No. 3 by the New England Patriots, were selected as part of a historic first-round quarterback class.
Now, firmly entrenched as their teams’ QB1s with a combined 12 NFL starts, they will be back on the same stage again when they face off Sunday at Soldier Field.
Maye admitted Wednesday that an opportunity to compete against his draft classmate brings a little more to the Sunday table, even more so considering he’s known Williams long before they were NFL rookies.
“Really, with Caleb, I’ve seen him since high school,” Maye said Wednesday, via team transcript. “We’d go to the same camps. We were at the Elite 11 (camp) with each other. We got some college visits together. So, the whole thing, going through the process again. We kept up with each other in college. We were friends, and I enjoyed watching him do his thing. Now I get a chance to compete. 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.”
Maye, who backed up veteran Jacoby Brissett to begin the season, is set to make his fifth start of the year (and career) Sunday. Though the 2-7 Patriots currently hold the No. 1 spot in the 2025 NFL Draft, Maye has injected some excitement into the operation. He’s the first rookie since the 1970 merger with five or more passing touchdowns and 200 or more rushing yards in his first five games, per NFL Research.
Through five appearances and four starts, Maye has completed 65.6% of his passes for 770 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions, while rushing for 209 yards and a score.
The four interceptions stand out most for Maye, who cited his need to protect possession as his top priority of improvement.
“I’ve got to protect the football,” Maye said. “That’s the biggest thing. I think there’s times where my decision-making, whether it’s ball security in the pocket, and knowing when that timer goes off in my head, little things like that.”
Williams, having started eight games, has completed 61.4% of his passes for 1,665 yards, nine touchdowns and five interceptions, while rushing for 221 yards. Much of Williams’ legwork has been used to avoid pressure, which he’s seen at a 39.5% clip (seventh-highest in the NFL, per Next Gen Stats). Though it’s been a problem for the Bears, Maye sees it as one of Williams’ finest assets.
“I think the play is never over with Caleb,” Maye said. “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.'”
Williams, Washington’s Jayden Daniels (No. 3 overall), Maye, Atlanta’s Michael Penix Jr. (No. 8), Minnesota’s J.J. McCarthy (No. 10) and Denver’s Bo Nix (No. 12) comprised a first-round QB draft class that tied the celebrated 1983 class for the most quarterbacks selected in the first round.
Maye keeps tabs from afar and believes he and his fellow rookies who are playing are all trying to do their best to turn their teams into winners as much as anything.
“I think the biggest thing is you see them on film,” he said. “I’m just watching Jayden play the Bears defense and watching these teams. I think that’s pretty cool. I think you see some of the highlight plays. I think the biggest thing is you see how the overall team is doing. That’s the main goal for really all us rookies in this class, to put wins in the win column. If we get another chance to do that, we’ve got to get some more in that column.”
Of course, Maye knows Williams pretty well. This Sunday will be an all-new experience, though.
It will be the No. 3 overall pick trying to lead his team to an upset over the No. 1 overall pick and his struggling squad, which has lost two straight. It will most notably be the first time Maye and Williams have squared off, and the Patriots’ franchise QB of the future is looking forward to it.
“We’ve never played each other,” Maye said, “so it’s the first time, so it’ll be pretty cool.”
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