The Chicago Bears created a bit of controversy two months ago when they selected Sam Roush in the 3rd round. Nobody could understand why. When you have plenty of roster holes to address, adding another tight end when you already have two really good ones didn’t make logistical sense. Experts painted it as Ben Johnson’s signal that he plans to utilize “13” personnel a lot more often this season, and you need three tight ends to do it effectively. Others felt the Bears couldn’t pass up a chance to add one of the best pure blockers in the draft. However, a few believed the team felt Roush was a way better player than most people realized.
Add Caleb Williams to that list. The Bears quarterback did the usual leadership thing by welcoming the tight end to Chicago when he was drafted. Beyond that, he didn’t have much opinion on it. That has definitely changed. Williams has gotten a chance to work with Roush in practice over the past couple of weeks. He was more than a little impressed. If you don’t believe it, just watch the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce. They mentioned that the Bears have two stud tight ends, Colston Loveland and Cole Kmet.
Williams immediately corrected them. It’s three now.
Sam Roush had support even before Williams.
Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer was the tight end’s high school coach. He was adamant in a recent interview that people have no idea how good Roush is. Yes, he’s a terrific blocker. That doesn’t mean he can’t do anything else. He has the speed and hands to be a legitimate threat in the passing game. The problem is that he never really had many opportunities to showcase it at Stanford. This was due to a mix of poor quarterback play and instability at the head coach position.
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It hasn’t taken Williams long to catch onto this reality. He’s only been working directly with Roush for a handful of practices, and he’s already saying stuff like this publicly. The Bears quarterback isn’t one to say things just for the sake of fluff. He is honest with his comments because he has good reasons. We’ve seen that for over two years now. If he says Sam Roush is on par with Loveland and Kmet in terms of capability, you’d best pay attention. This is something that will come to light when the games start happening in September.
Williams is a conduit for Johnson.
It is clearer than ever than quarterback and head coach are on the same page. Williams spent a full season in that offense. He now has a much better grasp of its capability and where Johnson wants to go next. It is almost certain that the quarterback knew the intentions of drafting Roush immediately. The fact that he has bought in this much already is a major vote of confidence. We already saw snippets of “13” personnel last season. Johnson used it to great effect in the run game and play-action.
The only issue was that third tight end. Durham Smythe was a good blocker, but not much of a threat in the passing game. That could change with Roush. Many compare him to Kmet in terms of body type and talent. If that is true, the Bears now have three tight ends who pose problems because they could be on the field in any situation, and nobody will have a clue what their likely responsibilities are. That scares defenses to death. Williams can already see the potential benefits.
