FOXBORO — The New England Patriots spent a first round pick on a quarterback who'd don No. 10 and lead them into the playoffs early in his career. Of course, I'm talking about Mac Jones and Drake Maye.

Obviously, the careers of both those two players are vastly different in 2026, but they were linked together during the Patriots' 45-27 drubbing at the hands of the Green Bay Packers. Despite Maye's ugly showing — where he threw three interceptions — he climbed up in the franchise's all-time passing yards leaderboard.

Maye finished the game with 299 yards, pushing his total career yardage to 8,952. That put him past Jones' 8,918 and moved Maye into seventh-place in Patriots history.

Through nine games, Maye has had a season to remember (or forget, depending on the week). He's completing 65.4% of his passes and has thrown for 2,282 yards. He's scored 21 times, but turnovers continue to plague him.

The sky looked like the limit for Jones, who the Patriots selected 15th overall back in 2021. Beating out Cam Newton as a rookie, Jones led the Patriots to a winning record and a trip to the postseason after a one-year hiatus. He finished that season with 3,801 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns and a trip to the Pro Bowl.

But his career started to unravel in the next two seasons. An ankle injury opened the door for Bailey Zappe to jump into the starting spot in 2022 and after a strong start to 2023, Jones eventually faded away into the backup job. He finished his three-year stint with New England going 864-for-1,308 for those 8,918 passing yards, 46 touchdowns, 36 interceptions. He'd be traded away to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 2024 sixth round pick.

Maye can easily surge forward when it comes to his placement on that list. Jim Plunkett is one spot above him with 9,932 yards, and Tony Eason is just a little bit further out (10,732). Considering how this is just Maye's third season and he's already in the top seven, the outlook remains sunny.

Maye's Struggles Were Part Of Bad Loss

It wasn't a good night for Maye, who acknowledged it postgame. After a short run on the game's opening play, Maye got impatient and hucked up a bad interception to Xavier McKinney. He'd later throw another one to McKinney in the second quarter — which came after one thrown to Evan Williams.

"They've hunted a lot of turnovers on, eyes on the quarterback, in zone coverage. And I knew that coming into it and forced the first one," Maye said. "And then like I said, they jumped some crossers ... I think the bad ones hurt more than the good ones, unfortunately."

It was Maye's second-career game with three interceptions and both have come this season against really stout defensive units. He's up to 11 on the season, the most in the league, as the Patriots teeter into an international battle with the Detroit Lions.

Considering how the first three years of Maye's career have gone, he's set to rewrite the record books on a weekly basis. He also accounted for three touchdowns for the sixth-straight game, a personal best.