Bear Digest

Even Negative Anonymous Views of Caleb Williams Lack Sting

Anonymous comments in SI article about the likely Bears QB selection do little to damage his status as No. 1 overall, and the same is true with several other anonymous reports.

Gene Chamberlain

Even the criticism of Caleb Williams packs little punch as scouts have seen little to dislike other than the USC team's overall weakness last year.
Even the criticism of Caleb Williams packs little punch as scouts have seen little to dislike other than the USC team's overall weakness last year. / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
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Try as they might, about the only issues NFL personnel people or coaches see in Caleb Williams as top draft choice seem petty or insignificant compared to what the Bears have been through at this position.

In fact, the word "nit-picking" is the way a pair of unidentified scouts described the Williams flaw-finding process to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. The same type of situation develops in other anonymous scouting reports.

This isn't to say Williams is the perfect quarterback, but the positives outweight the negatives by so much it's little wonder he has been rated the No. 1 player in this class since possibly his Oklahoma days in 2021. In an assessment of quarterbacks in this draft, Breer found personnel people see no legitimately serious flaw in Williams' game.

The Patrick Mahomes comparison has been overdone, but Breer points out he couldn't come up with anyone closer in style.

"The first thing that sticks out is just how many different throws he has, even touch throws to the back underneath—it's a special arm," an NFC offensive coordinator told Breer. "The Mahomes comparison in terms of what he can do with it, I think that's very real. The next thing is the instincts. You can see, obviously, he's got wide field vision. He's got great instincts. The playmaking ability stands on its own."

One AFC executive told Breer there is a case to be built for Williams being a superior athlete to Mahomes.

ALBERT BREER ASSESSES THE DRAFT'S QBs AND ANONYMOUS SCOUT COMMENTS

"He's got a super strong arm, and he's a lot faster than people give him credit for," the executive told Breer. "He's not as explosive as Kyler (Murray) or Lamar (Jackson) or even Jayden  (Daniels), but he’s fast. For all the Mahomes comparisons, he's probably the superior athlete. He makes everything look easy."

This shouldn't surprise anyone because Mahomes ran only a 4.8 in the 40 at his combine.

The nit-picking part of the assessments Breer received from personnel and coaches anonymously involve how Williams last year went too much for the big play and some off-field issues like his domineering father.

SURPRISE BEARS SECOND PICK AT NO. 9 WHO IS GAINING MOMENTUM

"The '22 tape is very good," an NFC QB coach told Breer. "This year, the team is terrible, the offense is brutal. You can see the talent. He can move, but a lot of the off-schedule stuff, he's careless with the football. He's not Mahomes—this guy is not a slam dunk. He makes bad decisions."

The general consensus was Williams is getting picked where he deserves to be picked, but maybe the quote from an NFC East area scout Matt Miller of ESPN reported is a jumping the gun a bit: "Caleb is the most likely player in this class to become a Hall of Famer," the scout told Miller.

Tom Peliserro of NFL.com had a similar description of the nit-picking from an NFL executive.

"The further you get away from tape, the more people are making it more about the non-playing factors, whether it's the personality, the dad, etc.," the NFC executive said. "Then you get back to the tape—he's got the most ‘wow' plays of any quarterback in the draft.

"And he plays a lot of hero ball because people don't realize he had one of the worst supporting casts of any of the quarterbacks in this draft."

DRAFT ANALYST EXPLAINS BEARS' TWO PATHS AT NO. 9

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.