If you ask Chicago Bears fans whether Caleb Williams is the real deal at quarterback, you won’t hear any hesitation. In their minds, he is the franchise player they’ve waited literal decades for. This stems from what he has accomplished over his first two years. He had the best rookie passing season in franchise history and had the longest streak without an interception. Then last season, he led seven 4th quarter comebacks, went 11-6, won the division, beat Green Bay in the playoffs, and threw for a franchise-record 3,941 yards.
Opinions at the national level are more divisive. Some already see Williams as a top 10 quarterback, putting him on the cover of Madden. Others believe he isn’t yet polished enough to even be called a good quarterback. In situations like this, it is worth discovering what people inside the league think. Mike Sando of The Athletic got to the bottom of it with his annual survey of executives and coaches for his Quarterback Tiers. Williams finished 11th overall in the ranking. However, it came with an interesting note. Opinions were split almost straight down the line between the two groups.
Execs generally liked Williams more than coaches did. All eight GMs placed him in Tier 2, while coaches supplied 11 of his 14 votes in Tier 3. That is likely because coaches are more apt to want quarterbacks to play on time.
“He is a high 3 or low 2 with the ability to go either way, kind of like Josh Allen at (the same) point in his career,” a defensive coordinator said. “He is an exciting player, definitely athletic. The good thing for him, just like Lamar (Jackson) and Josh (Allen) at this stage: It doesn’t look like the moment is too big for him.”
This was echoed perfectly by an offensive coach, who pointed out the high-risk, high-reward style Williams seems to excel at.
“Chicago probably holds the ball longer than most teams just with the stuff they do,” an offensive coach said. “Then you add on Caleb’s escapability. He gets out of so many that should be sacks for 90 percent of the league.”
Caleb Williams is a perfect encapsulation of the execs-coaches divide.
If you go back through NFL history, there has always been a disagreement between general managers and coaches about the types of quarterbacks they prefer. Most of the time, coaches prefer your classic field generals: smart, efficient, accurate, and poised in the pocket. They want guys who will run the system, serving as a direct extension of the coach’s will. Drew Brees is a great example. He was the perfect conductor for Sean Payton’s offense in New Orleans. However, executives tend to focus on the potential of a quarterback.
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They focus on the talent. This guy has all the tools necessary to dominate the league. If he can be taught to play the position like a professional, there is no ceiling to what he can do. Patrick Mahomes is that archetype. Nobody considered him a field general. He was a classic gunslinger with an unbelievable arm and natural playmaking instincts. Kansas City took a gamble on that potential. He developed under Andy Reid into one of the most dynamic threats at the position today. Caleb Williams falls into the latter category.
Most coaches don’t like quarterbacks like that because of the unpredictability. They don’t know how to harness it properly. It was the problem many thought would create a divide between Williams and head coach Ben Johnson.
It all comes down to who can embrace the chaos.
Certain quarterbacks just don’t play by the book. They have to trust their instincts, and some of them have the rare ability to make things happen outside the offensive structure. What makes them so tricky for coaches is you can’t let them lean on that ability exclusively in the NFL. It may create lots of highlights, but it doesn’t win championships. We saw that with previous great scramblers like Randall Cunningham and Michael Vick. By contrast, you also don’t want to restrict their creativity by trying to force them to be strictly pocket guys.
That is what happened to Vince Young in Tennessee, Robert Griffin III in Washington, and Marcus Mariota in Tennessee. The trick is allowing those guys to still utilize their talents, but also teaching them to stay in the pocket unless given no choice. We’ve seen many more success stories in that vein over the past 20 years, like Russell Wilson, Jalen Hurts, Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen. You can probably count Williams among that number now.
Coaches not liking it is more about their own discomfort than his being a bad quarterback.
