SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The draft class that produced Bears quarterback Caleb Williams has a long way to go to live up to the hype and stand as one of the greatest in NFL history, but it’s off to an incredible start.
The quarterbacks have spent their first two seasons jumping ahead of each other, and the Patriots’ Drake Maye now has the lead near the end of a spectacular season in which he was the runner-up for NFL MVP and has his team in Super Bowl LX on Sunday against the Seahawks.
The class is so strong, however, that winning a championship wouldn’t necessarily end the debate. One of the other quarterbacks might be in Maye’s shoes a year from now.
Williams never can be counted out of anything. The Commanders’ Jayden Daniels outplayed them on his way to winning Offensive Rookie of the Year and going to the NFC Championship Game last season. The Broncos’ Bo Nix has thrown more touchdown passes than any of them and missed out on a shot at Maye in the AFC Championship Game after he broke his ankle.
This is an early chapter of what should be an epic saga. Maye is the main character for now, but even he makes no assumption it’ll stay that way.
‘‘We’re all trying to get to the same stage and get Super Bowl wins,’’ Maye said. ‘‘It just so happened that I got here first. But those guys are great players, and we’re going to have a lot of great matchups down the road.’’
A record six quarterbacks were selected among the top 12 picks in 2024, matching the six picked in the first round of the historic 1983 class that included John Elway, Dan Marino and Jim Kelly, and four have established themselves in the league.
Williams, Daniels and Maye were the top three picks, in that order, and Nix went 12th. They all have at least one playoff victory and look like good bets to get contract extensions when they’re eligible after next season.
‘‘Already, you can see this draft class is making some noise,’’ Maye said. ‘‘Props to how strong our class was and props to us for putting work in to be game-changers and prove our worth to these franchises.’’
Michael Penix went eighth to the Falcons and J.J. McCarthy 10th to the Vikings, but both are on shaky ground.
Regardless of what happens Sunday, this season belonged to Maye. For all of Williams’ heroics and Nix’s steadiness, Maye is definitively in front.
He led the NFL with a 113.5 passer rating, which was 20-plus points ahead of anyone else from his class. He threw 31 touchdown passes (third in the league) and only eight interceptions and was fourth in the league at 258.5 passing yards per game.
‘‘Two main things: One was the humility to want to be coached and invest in the process and master the offense in its entirety, and [two was] also being a good leader in his own way to his teammates,’’ said Patriots assistant Thomas Brown, who was the Bears’ interim coach after Matt Eberflus was fired last season. ‘‘Drake is built in every aspect to be a great leader. He understands who he is and how to communicate with guys.’’
Brown, by the way, wasn’t able to track Williams closely this season, but he said he saw some of those ‘‘off-the-wall, outlandish throws he made.’’
Among the 2024 picks, Williams was second to Maye in passer rating (90.1), touchdown passes (27) and passing yards per game (231.9). Nix had an 87.8 passer rating and 25 touchdown passes and threw for 231.2 yards per game, and Daniels played in only seven games because of injuries.
Williams has been good enough in his first two seasons to warrant a wait-and-see view of the 2024 class. This is nowhere near the conversation that hounded Mitch Trubisky as Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson soared; it’s merely a snapshot of where things stand at the moment.
Maye and Williams are friends and fans of each other. Williams, who called it ‘‘a pretty badass class,’’ said in October he enjoyed watching Maye flourish and didn’t get caught up in comparisons.
Maye said during Super Bowl week that seeing Williams’ stunning throws was nothing new because, ‘‘He’s been making those since high school. His game translates to any stage.’’
Maye and Williams had turbulent rookie seasons, then found stability under new coaches. The Patriots hired Mike Vrabel and veteran offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, and the Bears brought in Ben Johnson.
As the quarterbacks ascended, so did their teams. The Bears jumped from 5-12 to 11-6, won the NFC North and made it to the divisional round of the playoffs. The Patriots had been even worse at 4-13 and flipped that to a league-best 14-3 alongside the Broncos and Seahawks.
If the 2024 class proves to rival the 1983 class, the king will be crowned by the number of Lombardi Trophies, not by sparkling statistics or goosebumps-inducing highlights. Marino far exceeded Elway in yards and touchdown passes and is considered by many to be more talented, but Elway reigns because of his two Super Bowl victories.
That’s how the score ultimately will be tallied, and it’s the only thing the Bears, Patriots and the other teams cared about when they drafted these quarterbacks.
If Maye can upend the Seahawks and become the first quarterback in the class to get a ring, the pressure on Williams and everyone else will rise.