Everybody knows what the pre-draft process can be like for quarterbacks. Every little thing about them that seems wrong gets magnified a hundredfold. What seemed like such an easy decision in December now appears daunting in March and April. That is why NFL teams scrutinize every detail. They know the gravity of the situation. If you miss on a 1st round quarterback, the odds are you’ll never get another chance. If you hit, there’s a chance you set the franchise on a path of decade-long success. This is the situation GM Ryan Poles finds himself in with the #1 overall pick, and it appears Caleb Williams is the heavy favorite.
The discourse among the media on the USC star remains volatile. Many feel the young quarterback has a lot of worrying red flags, from his tendency to hold the ball too long to his perceived diva mentality. Nobody had a better vantage point of Williams, the player and person, than wide receiver Brendan Rice. The son of the great 49ers Hall of Famer was Williams’ favorite target last season. His answer on the subject to Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times carried a heavy weight of warning.
“If you can go ahead and risk [not picking him] and picking apart his game and letting him fall, have fun losing your job, man,” said wide receiver Brenden Rice, son of NFL legend Jerry Rice. “Honestly, have fun. I’m proud of my quarterback.”
That line doesn’t get much clearer. Passing on Williams will lead to instant and long-term regret. It harkens back to a similar comment by Peyton Manning to the Indianapolis Colts leadership ahead of the 1998 draft.
“I would like to play for you but if you don’t pick me, I will kick your ass for the next 15 years.”
Caleb Williams has done everything a #1 pick can do.
He instantly elevated his program when he arrived, put up ridiculous numbers across two years, and did it without a single off-the-field incident. The only gripes people have had about him are an overbearing father and crying on camera after a tough loss to Oregon. No prospect is ever perfect. The idea is to focus on what a guy can do rather than what he can’t. The truth is Williams can do a lot more things on the field than he can’t. That is why nobody would bat an eye if the Bears took him.
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One can understand fans being scared. Chicago’s QB history speaks for itself. It’s been one disaster after another for mostly seventy years. Meanwhile, they’ve had to watch the Green Bay Packers enjoy a prolonged golden age with Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and now apparently, Jordan Love. When will it be their turn? Maybe Caleb Williams is the confident gunslinger they need to finally dig out of the mud. Poles and the coaching staff must make that determination in the next month or two.
