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09/30 08:20 CDT Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy find themselves in unfortunate company early this NFL season Drake Maye and J.J. McCarthy find themselves in unfortunate company early this NFL season By JOSH DUBOW AP Pro Football Writer Drake Maye has followed up a season when he was the MVP runner-up with an opening month that has been reminiscent of some of the biggest recent draft busts. J.J. McCarthy also finds himself among not-so-illustrious company after being dealt away following a quick flameout in Minnesota. Two of the record-tying six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the 2024 draft aren't having the best start to the 2026 season. Let's start with Maye, who emerged as a star in his second season in 2025 when he led the NFL in passer rating (113.5), completion percentage (72.0) and yards per attempt (8.9) and finished a close second to Matthew Stafford in MVP voting while helping the Patriots reach the Super Bowl. New England made the playoff run despite less-than-spectacular playoff performances from Maye against some of the league's top defenses, but it has only gotten worse over the first three games of this season. Maye has turned the ball over seven times in the first three games while producing only one touchdown for the Patriots, marking the first time since 2007 that any quarterback has done that. The one positive from that is the last QB to do it was Drew Brees, who recovered to have a solid season that year and a Hall of Fame career after that. The other company Maye is in is much less encouraging: His 58.6 passer rating marks the fifth time in the last 10 seasons that a QB was under 60 after starting the first three games. The other quarterbacks on that list include notable draft busts like Anthony Richardson (55.9 in 2024), Justin Fields (50 in 2022), Zach Wilson (51.6 in 2021) and DeShone Kizer (53.2 in 2017). The Patriots have scored just 29 points on offense so far this season --- they had a defensive touchdown in a Week 2 win over Pittsburgh --- for the lowest total through three games since the Jets had 20 in 2021 in the first three starts of Wilson's career. McCarthy went down with a season-ending knee injury in his first exhibition game for the Vikings, becoming just the third top-10 quarterback who didn't play a single snap as a rookie. He began last season as the starter and won NFC Offensive Player of the Week in his debut, but injuries limited him to just 10 starts last season. McCarthy fell to third string this season after ranking last among all qualifiers with a 72.6 passer rating last season and now will seek a fresh start with the New York Giants. McCarthy is just the sixth quarterback taken in the top 10 in the common draft era starting in 1967 to make 10 or fewer starts for his original team. Rich Campbell, the sixth pick by Green Bay in 1981, threw 68 career passes and never started a game for the Packers. San Francisco dealt away 2021 No. 3 pick Trey Lance following just four starts after Brock Purdy seized the starting role for the 49ers. Jack Thompson made five starts for Cincinnati after being picked third in 1979, Marty Domres made six starts for the Chargers after going ninth in 1969 and Andre Ware had six starts for Detroit after being drafted seventh in 1990. None of those QBs had any success in new places.

Backup QBs off to record-setting start Case Keenum's win for the Chicago Bears in his first appearance in nearly three years was just the latest example of a team succeeding without its starting quarterback. In all, quarterbacks who didn't start Week 1 are 6-0 this season in fill-in appearances, with Atlanta's Michael Penix, Washington's Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston of the Giants also joining that list this week with wins. Drew Lock won his start for Seattle in Week 2 after Sam Darnold went down in the opener and Carson Wentz did the same for Minnesota that week when Kyler Murray was hurt. Murray returned this past week and won, while Darnold and the Seahawks lost to Mariota and the Commanders. According to ESPN, this is the first time since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger that six quarterbacks who didn't start the opener had wins in Week 2 or Week 3, excluding the 1987 season with replacement players. The win by Keenum in his first start for the Bears gave him victories with seven franchises, after previously doing it with Houston, the Rams, Minnesota, Denver, Washington and Cleveland. That tied Ryan Fitzpatrick for the most teams that a QB has earned a win for as starter.

Vikings get off to a most unusual 3-0 start The Minnesota Vikings ' start represents something that hasn't been seen in nearly 70 years. Led by a dominant defense, the Vikings are 3-0 despite failing to reach the rather pedestrian mark of 250 yards of offense in any game. The last time any team did that while winning the first three games of a season came in 1957, when the Cleveland Browns did it with Paul Brown as coach and Jim Brown as the star rookie running back. Cleveland made it to the NFL title game that season before losing to Detroit. In fact, only two other teams since 1950 had three-game winning streaks without gaining 250 yards in any game at any point in a season. Tampa Bay did it in 1999 and Minnesota in 1969. The Buccaneers made it to the NFC title game that season and the Vikings reached the Super Bowl before losing to Kansas City. In all, the Vikings are one of 328 teams to start a season 3-0 since 1939, and their average yardage differential of minus-81.3 per game ranks second-worst to Seattle's minus-89.3 in 2020.

Chargers and Texans are surprising 0-3 teams The Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans are still searching for their first wins after entering the season among the 10 teams with the best odds to win the Super Bowl. The Chargers fell to 0-3 in a most surprising fashion, losing 24-16 to Buffalo despite generating five takeaways and having a plus-four turnover margin. Since 2013, teams with at least five takeaways and a plus-four turnover margin are 81-3-1 in the regular season and playoffs. The other losses before Sunday are a painful reminder for Chargers fans. Their team lost the 2022 wild-card playoff game in that scenario to Jacksonville and a Week 17 game to Denver in 2015. The last team other than the Chargers to lose like that was Arizona in 2012 against Atlanta. The Chargers and Texans must overcome long odds to reach the playoffs; only six teams have ever done it in a nonstrike season after starting 0-3. The only team to do it this century is Houston, which did it last season and in 2018. Before that it was done by Buffalo in 1998, Detroit in 1995, the Chargers in 1992 and the Jets in 1981.

Cam Ward's first 20 starts After throwing a late interception on a potential game-winning drive in a loss to the Giants on Sunday, Cam Ward fell to 3-17 in his career as a starter for Tennessee since being drafted first overall in 2025. Only two other QBs picked first in the common draft era lost as many games in their first 20 starts as Ward. Hall of Famer Troy Aikman also was 3-17 after losing all 11 starts as a rookie in 1989 for Dallas and Bryce Young was 3-17 in his first 20 starts after being drafted first by Carolina in 2024. Andrew Luck and John Elway had the most wins in their first 20 starts among No. 1 pick quarterbacks with 14 each. The only other ones with a winning record after 20 starts were Carson Palmer (11-9) and Michael Vick (10-8-1). ___ Inside the Numbers dives into NFL statistics, streaks and trends each week. For more Inside the Numbers, head here. ___ See AP's full NFL coverage here

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