Did Caleb Williiams Give Up Too Much About the Scramble Drill?

The Bears QB described the battle plan for receivers if he's moving out of the pocket looking to throw, but was it a little too revealing?

Caleb Williams scrambles around inside the pocket before moving out of it and throwing against the Bengals. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

From the time Caleb Williams stepped to the mic at the combine in Indianapolis, it was obvious he could talk to the media.

It's possible he might be revealing more than a coach would like.

During the postgame press conference, Williams was asked about the 45-yard completion he threw to Rome Odunze after exiting the pocket, and gave up something about Bears scramble rules.

"Obviously, he was the deep man on that side, so he already had the rights to be able to go deep," Williams said. "My only thing is just stay in range; if you're running a post and you're already 60 yards down the field, it's a little bit tougher to throw on the run 60 yards when you're already down there.

"Stay in range and make it super decisive and detailed for me so I can see exactly what you're doing. Don't try to settle and move and things like that. Other than that, he did a great job. He broke out in his route, saw me scrambling, and then broke up field down the sideline, left a few yards on the hashes, and then I tried to give him a great ball; he made a great catch. That's how it went."

Williams tends to move out of the pocket so often the Bears need to get their scramble drill rules down. If defenses know what the rules are, it's going to be easier to defend it when the play breaks down and receivers have already run their initial routes.

Of course, most teams probably have simmilar rules on scrambles and the Bears can always change those rules up to confuse defenses.

It's probably easier to keep them guessing than if secondaries know where the eventual receivers finish on those plays.

For years, the Bears lived in fear when Aaron Rodgers or Brett Favre would start running or scrambling but keeping their eyes downfield because they could do much more damage throwing it on the run than running themselves. Now the Bears have this type of weapon as long as they're not giving up too much about how the receivers will run after the pocket breaks down.

With Justin Fields, the play most often would end with him running it rather than throwing it as he took advantage of his great speed. Williams showed in the game he can run it if necessary, when he almost reluctantly ran it in behind Teven Jenkins for a 7-yard touchdown.

When Bears receivers or Fields described such situations, they only referred to "scramble rules" without telling what the rules actually were.

When talking about his off-platform throwing abilities, it was interesting to hear Williams mention Rodgers.

"It's something that I've worked on in practice," he said about throwing across his body moving left. "I mean, watching Aaron Rodgers–I know he was a Green Bay guy, sorry guys–but watching Aaron Rodgers and all his times these past 19, 20 years, he can do unbelievable things, right, left, running, straight, running left, all these other things. Just practicing it, over time perfecting it.

"Obviously, there's going to be times where I don't put it exactly where I want to. Today worked out. (WR) Rome (Odunze) ran a great route, or Rome had a good exit plan from his route and got upfield and made a marvelous catch, a wonderful catch and I tried to just give him a shot."

It can be easier for the exit plan when no one has a clue where the receiver is going, though.

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