Measureables Only Part of Bears QB Equation
So much for another argument against drafting Caleb Williams.
Among the many talking points of Justin Fields fans who wanted the Bears to keep their quarterback is Williams is too short. Many questioned whether Williams would even hit 6 feet tall.
The official measurement at the NFL combine came out Saturday when quarterbacks worked out without Williams and he is 6-foot-1 1/8, 214 pounds with a hand size 9 3/4 inches.
When Williams talked at the NFL Scouting Combine on Friday he appeared miffed about the height concerns being expressed.
"My height? That is the first time I'm hearing about my height," Williams said, which seems unlikely considering the amount of buzz about it on social media over the last year. "I'm around Aaron Rodgers' size and maybe weight too, 215, 220 and 6-1, 6-1."
For the record, Rodgers is actually 6-2 and when he was measured for the 2005 combine he was at 223 pounds.
Regardless, Williams doesn't appear to be too small to succeed at this size. He's less than an inch shorter than Patrick Mahomes and about 11 pounds lighter than at the combine.
Wilson is 10 pounds heavier and 2 1/8 inches taller than Russell Wilson was and 3 inches taller and 7 pounds heavier than Kyler Murray.
It's not Williams' stature which is where the Bears need to be focused, anyway. They didn't measure hearts at the combine. They don't measure leadership ability there. This is where he's going to need to win over a locker room which could be skeptical at least initially.
No less a player than Jerry Rice's son Brenden said exactly what the Bears will be getting in this regard if they bring Caleb Williams to the team.
"Each down you're just going to have to bring your 'A' game because he's going to expect so much from you to raise yourself as a person on and off the field," Rice said.
This is critical.
The acceptance of Williams within the locker room will be important should they make the decision to draft Williams and trade Fields. It is an intangible but a valid one in the process. However, GM Ryan Poles says he's not worried about it causing stress.
"No, because I have faith in our ability to communicate with our guys and when we do that I think they'll know that it's in the best interest of the team," Poles said at the combine. "And I think as we've moved along here, I think that the trust factor is there that they're in good hands with however we decide to kind of move."
Poles believes logic will prevail over heart because of the way they've built the team but in this case they feel Williams' ability as leader would also matter if drafted.
"That's why the person is so important when we evaluate other people that would come in in that position," Poles said. "But also it's my job to kind of think of the long term and a lot of our guys don't see that. That's not their job to do that and they defend their guy, which I think speaks volumes about our culture in our locker room."
They'll have to hope Williams makes those same players think the same things.
Williams knows it wouldn't be the same thing as a college locker room and expressed this at the combine when asked if he'd need to make a jump in terms of his leadership ability.
"I wouldn't say I necessarily need to make a jump," he said. "I would say there are small things that you may need to correct or adapt to going into an NFL locker room where I'm 22 and people have kids and they (range in age) to 35 and things like that. I would say just adapting to the situation, understanding what the team needs for me and going about it that way."
As a young player, Williams might lack experience in this regard, but he maintains he's been through several different situations and the locker room changes even more in college from year to year.
"So the cool thing about my experiences that all three years have been a bit different," he said. "This past year we went 7-5, so my leadership had to be different. The year before I came into a situation where we were 4-8, so my leadership needed to be different.
"The year before I came in as a backup and I jumped up and became the starter. So my leadership at times has been different and it's helped groom me for the situation I'm going into now."
The one thing Williams could ask new teammates is one simple phrase he said at the combine and he knows it: "Just, do you want to win? That is it."
It's the bottom line to everything they're doing. But accomplishing it will start with the quarterback decision and acceptance of Williams should it not be Fields in the locker room.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
