Who is XFL's passing leader heading into Week 3? Analyzing A.J. McCarron, Ben DiNucci and co

The XFL enters its third week on Thursday and the league is truly delivering entertainment, which is a pleasant surprise for fans who starve for football after the end of the NFL season.

While the XFL has some different rules compared to the NFL, many of the players were members of the National Football League at some point - and certainly, all of them grew up dreaming of playing with the biggest stars. The XFL provides a true path, especially because they're not dividing attention with any other league.

It's also a good return route to the league, as many players from the XFL have already played in the NFL and are looking to return. Passing yards leading quarterbacks over the first two weeks aren't uncommon names for NFL fans.

XFL passing yards leaders: former NFL quarterbacks dominate the list

If you look at the top three quarterbacks in passing yards, they have all played in the NFL. One of them has even started a playoff game, while another has led the Dallas Cowboys in a primetime matchup against bitter rivals the Philadelphia Eagles.

Ben DiNucci of the Seattle Sea Dragons dominates in passing yards throughout the two weeks with 478; Brandon Silvers from the Houston Roughnecks is second with 445, while A.J. McCarron, the former Cincinnati Bengals and Alabama quarterback who now defends the St. Louis BattleHawks, is third with 374.

McCarron is the most famous of them all. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2014 and spent four years as Andy Dalton's backup, even starting a playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He also had stints with the Buffalo Bills, the Las Vegas Raiders, the Houston Texans, and the Atlanta Falcons.

DiNucci did not have much success in his NFL career, spending two seasons with the Dallas Cowboys before being cut. He did start a Sunday Night Football game for them, but it was not the greatest backup performance of all time, to say the least.

Silvers played college football at Troy and spent an offseason with the New York Jets, but unlike the others in the top 3, he never played in an NFL game.