Organized Team Activities is the next step as NFL teams slowly ramp up for training camp. It marked the first instance where Chicago Bears rookies and veterans got to practice together. That meant #1 overall pick Caleb Williams threw to all of his wide receivers. The team finally released their first video from drills this week since media attendance won’t happen until Thursday. Predictably, it showed Williams making a throw. However, it wasn’t a conventional throw. He scrambled to his left, contorted his body, and fired an absolute strike to tight end Gerald Everett over a helpless Kyler Gordon.
It might just be in shorts but throws like that aren’t exactly easy in any setting. Williams made them look routine in college, and it appears he hasn’t lost that touch since getting to Chicago.
Arm strength and accuracy aside, one thing that has caught the attention of many with Williams is his release. It is compact and quick, getting the ball out fast. This was a constant source of frustration with Justin Fields, whose elongated windup often left him open to hits, sacks, and fumbles. It might be a small thing, but small things become huge during games.
Caleb Williams’ proving ground will be in the pocket.
Everybody knows he’s a wizard when he decides to scramble. He’s not compared to Patrick Mahomes by accident. Few are better at making throws outside the structure of a play. People need to know if he has the capability to operate with timing and precision inside the pocket. Those are where the great quarterbacks thrive. Mahomes figured it out. Russell Wilson figured it out. Williams has a similar style to them. Does he have the same processing speed? The Bears think so. No doubt their defense aims to test it once training camp begins.
Subscribe to the BFR Youtube channel and ride shotgun with Dave and Ficky as they break down Bears football like nobody else.
One common trend fans have seen for years is the defense outperforming the offense in practices. Maybe the first sign that Caleb Williams is the real deal will come when he starts stringing together some good practices on offense. He certainly has the supporting cast to make it happen. D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, and Cole Kmet figure to give the Bears secondary fits. Williams would make it all the tougher with his consistent accuracy.
Caleb–a nice throw running to his left AND a nice catch by the tall and leaping TE. The pass was somewhere between being a bullet and a dime.
@barry – Time to move on bro! Fields is gone. And it was his doing no one else’s. His best shot at being in the league long term is to turn into Taysom Hill.
I hope the Lions win this year Blu. It may be your only chance. We will own the North
Oh the joy of remembering back yard football where we ran around throwing off the wrong foot cross body and jumping for joy with the images in our heads of scoring the super bowl winning touchdown. Oh wait, that’s the bears’ new punk diva qb.
The one game in which Luke Getsy’s calls prioritized quick throws, Fields went something like 15-16 in the first half, with the only incompletion being an interception on a hail mary going into the half.
“Luke Getsy was the problem” will be the very last thing I say before I die, and it’ll also be etched on my grave.