Caleb Williams has officially declared for the 2024 NFL draft. Now, the Chicago Bears can begin their work. GM Ryan Poles made it clear he intends to exhaust every resource evaluating this class. He understands getting the quarterback position right is essential to bringing this team success. Most prominent insiders have hinted for some time that Chicago is more likely to draft a quarterback at this point than keep Justin Fields. This is due to his contract becoming more expensive and the lack of desired progress as a passer. There is also the fact many feel Williams is a generational talent.
Ability isn’t the issue in the eyes of Bears fans. They’ve watched plenty of Williams over the past year. His arm strength and accuracy are excellent. His ability to improvise with his legs is also special. There aren’t many holes in his game aside from an occasional tendency to hold the ball and the fact he’s on the shorter side at 6’1. However, there is one lingering concern for this fanbase. They’re not sure Williams has the mental fortitude to handle the pressures of playing in Chicago.
One prominent draft insider disagrees.
Jordan Reid covers college football and the draft for ESPN. He’s followed Williams’ career closely for the past three years. When asked by Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune about the perception of him being mentally soft, Reid emphatically shot it down.
“From the outside looking in, I think he has a very dominant personality that will welcome that big-market media (presence). And it takes a special kind of person to do that — especially in Chicago, a big media market. You have to have tough skin in a market like that.
We’ve seen him play at USC, which is in a big market in Los Angeles. Oklahoma is a blue-blood program. So he’s been in these situations before — maybe not to an extent of the New York Jets or the Chicago Bears or anything like that. But I think he has tough enough skin to where he’s going to be able to take some of the criticism.
I know everybody’s going to point to him going into the crowd and crying with his mom (after losing to Washington). But I actually liked that. To me, it showed he cared. He cared about what was going on and was so fed up with everything that was going on with USC that he just had to let it out.”
Caleb Williams doesn’t seem to mind playing with expectations.
He had the lights on him throughout high school, winning Gatorade Player of the Year. That honor is shared by guys like Emmitt Smith, Peyton Manning, and Kyler Murray. He had the dubious honor of following in the footsteps of Baker Mayfield, Murray, and Jalen Hurts at Oklahoma. All he did was step in midway through the 2021 season as a freshman and lead the Sooners to the Alamo Bowl, where he beat Oregon. From there, he put up video game numbers at USC, carrying a somewhat underwhelming roster to an 18-9 record across two seasons.
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Almost every evaluator out there believes he is the best quarterback in this class. It falls to Poles to determine if he has the mental fortitude to handle the immense pressure of playing for the Bears. The media market is large. Fans are vocal and can be nasty if you don’t perform. Never mind the ugly legacy of previous quarterbacks in this town. It takes a special kind of person to overcome all of that. Reid seems to think Caleb Williams has it. Interviews will soon happen starting next month.
