Interesting times abound for USC’s Caleb Williams, and not only because he’s projected to go first in the NFL Draft.
Not even five months later, Williams could be starting his NFL team’s 2024 season opener.
That makes the underlying football nitty-gritty interesting, too.
How the Chicago Bears or a potential trade partner intends to get Williams up to speed intrigues Daniel Jeremiah, the former NFL scout from El Cajon who serves as the NFL Network’s lead draft analyst.
Would it serve Williams better to sit behind a veteran quarterback for a year?
There’s a case for it. Patrick Mahomes said learning from San Diego’s Alex Smith as a rookie taught him “how to be a pro quarterback.”
Yet C.J. Stroud proved a quick study, leading the 2023 Houston Texans to a divisional title and playoff victory as a rookie.
Jeremiah said the Bears should draft Williams and probably would start him in Week 1, presumably after trading third-year starter Justin Fields. He said those starts may not prove ideal but also said NFL coaches have improved at preparing rookie QBs who can create some successful plays on their own.
“Part of the formula seems to be, ‘Hey, we’re not asking you to play quarterback every snap,'” said the former scout, who quarterbacked Christian High School and Appalachian State before scouting for the Ravens, Browns and Eagles.
Instead, coaches will “bake in 10 completions” per game that Jeremiah said won’t require much professional experience.
These can be quick es to the perimeter, regular screens, shallow crosses and variations of “stick” routes that free up one of three receivers to one side. “You’re not going to have to sit back there and really go deep and sort through things,” Jeremiah said of those plays.
A second segment will call upon maneuverability that distinguished Williams, who rushed for 27 touchdowns in 37 games with Oklahoma and USC.
“I’m going to ask you to make five or so — four or five plays with just your (athletic) ability,” Jeremiah said. “Go out there and create and make some things happen. Go run for a first down.”
Along with those two flavors of ice cream, a coaching staff will complete the Neapolitan with a more refined mix.
“You’re talking about seven or eight plays where you have to sit back there and really play quarterback and see coverage, work the progression, be on time, all those things,” Jeremiah said.
Jeremiah’s main point: if Williams is starting in September, coaches won’t overload him, having seen that backfire too often with other rookies.
“Sometimes you look at the quarterbacks who failed — they’ve been thrown out there,” he said, “and it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s throw the ball 40 times a game,’ and you’re having to do that on a down-in and down-out basis.”
Stroud set a rookie-year standard that Williams may not be able to match.
The Rancho Cucamonga native impressed Jeremiah with his “polished” ing in two seasons at Ohio State. The analyst said Stroud’s ing session at the NFL combine was unsured by any he’d seen.
The Texans drafted him second overall and dared to start Stroud in Week 1 against a Ravens defense that would lead the NFL in fewest points allowed. He survived the 25-9 road defeat in which he took five sacks but had a 64 percent completion rate and no interceptions.
By October, Stroud was chewing up NFL defenses.
“I don’t know that I have ever seen a rookie come in and see everything so clearly and play with just ultimate confidence,” Jeremiah said.
It wasn’t until October of his last season at Ohio State that Stroud turned 21. His growth in physical maturity as a professional stood out, the rookie appearing stronger and faster.
Williams, who’s 11 months older than Stroud was a year ago, showed rare agility and arm strength that he can tap into from a variety of angles.
“When you are playing with Caleb, there’s going to be a lot of scrambles and crazy stuff happening,” Jeremiah said.
He added: “Caleb is going to require some patience and assembly there.”
But Jeremiah said the payoff is too plausible and too great for Williams not to go first.
“The tools there are pretty dang elite,” he said of traits he linked to Super Bowl trophies.
My view: the Bears should draft Williams first only if they believe he will become a very good for them no later than during his second contract.
Otherwise, auction off the pick.
Multiple trades down, veteran NFL writer Peter King reports, could bring the Bears several picks.
Adding to the value of both Williams and the No. 1 pick, Jeremiah and other draftniks say the 2025 class lacks a QB prospect as exciting as Williams.
Factoring in the Fields analysis, Da Bears are the talk of the sports world now — an astonishing feat relative to how they’ve performed in most years the past few decades.
But that’s how the NFL rolls, commanding more attention than any other U.S. sports league even when its season stands seven months away.
