Some people still aren’t over the fact that the Chicago Bears willingly traded away Justin Fields, paving the way for Caleb Williams to become their #1 overall pick. Many see the exact same player: an athletic kid with outstanding mobility, a strong arm, and a tendency to play too much hero ball. If the Bears already had somebody like that, somebody the locker room seemed to love, then why make a change? Some argue it’s the contract issue. Fields would’ve cost a lot more after this season. Williams will be on a rookie deal for the next four years.
However, all of that talk isn’t addressing the primary difference between the two. Albert Breer of the MMQB spoke to multiple people inside the NFL about Williams. One offensive coordinator sees a key trait that separates him from Fields.
“The first thing that sticks out is just how many different throws he has, even touch throws to the back underneath—it’s a special arm,” says an NFC OC. “The Mahomes comparison in terms of what he can do with it, I think that’s very real. The next thing is the instincts. You can see, obviously, he’s got wide field vision. He’s got great instincts. The playmaking ability stands on its own. Those are the main things when you just look at it. It’s arm, instincts, vision, playmaking, just checks the box on all those things.”
One of Fields’ biggest criticisms was his tendency to hold the ball. Many experts believe this stemmed from what they called “delayed vision.” In other words, he wasn’t seeing plays fast enough, which led to being late on throws, resulting in incompletions or turnovers. Williams doesn’t have that problem. While he does hold the ball at times, there are lots of instances where he’s made quick reads inside the play structure.
Caleb Williams has already proven he can do more with less.
Fields had outstanding success in college. Much of that was due to his own talent, but there was also the fact he was surrounded by outstanding talent. Across two years as a starter, Fields played with seven teammates who were eventual 1st round picks, including three wide receivers. Williams played with one. That was wide receiver Jordan Addison. Yet he still managed to go 18-7 as a starter for the Trojans and win the Heisman trophy. They say good quarterbacks elevate the players around him. It is clear that is what Williams did.
More than one reason went into the Bears’ decision to move on from Fields. Part of it was the contract. It was also the realization that his current style of play was unsustainable. Poles admitted he feared injuries would eventually catch up to the quarterback. That, along with Caleb Williams’ obvious talent, made the decision an easy one. There is no telling how far the future #1 pick will go in Chicago. Still, if he lives up to these assessments from actual NFL people, the Bears are in good hands.
With all these articles about how great Williams is, we should be looking for a perfect season! Every game over 300 yards passing, zero interceptions, zero sacks and zero fumbles. Anything less would be a bust by what is written about him.
Processing speed, a quicker release, and keeping his eyes up field when navigating the pocket, or being flushed out, are observations I see when comparing film.
Whether Williams can do that at the NFL level or not, he is still set up to succeed, with all the upgrades that were not there for any previous Bear QB in my experience.
Let’s hope the experts are right about this guy.
Can’t wait for the draft! It should be an adventure to remember!
Just like all the various opinions about the Bears pick at #9 (will or should pick), the same differences will occur when judging Caleb’s efficiency/effectiveness of playing QB from Bears coaches and players, fans, opponents, multiple media services, so-called experts and insiders etc… Numerous comparisons with Fields will arise again and again. Besides describing the differences in outcomes, there will be attempts to explaining why the differences, if any, in terms QB traits, style, abilities etc., as stated here.
If Caleb has an incomplete pass this season, he is a bust in my book.
His field vision is much much better than JF ‘s. It’s not even kinda close. For me, one of the biggest things that separate he and JF is his self confidence. JF reminds me of Trubisky… he doesn’t have true self confidence. He has manufactured self confidence like Mitch did. That’s why they both second guess almost every throw, and both inturn throw a hair late on 85% of their throws. Several on here have concerns CW is “cocky”… I will take a cocky QB over a QB lacking self confidence 100 out of 100 times. Now we can wait… Read more »