It’s anyone’s guess what will happen behind him in the 2024 NFL Draft, but it’s as close to a guarantee as can be that Caleb Williams will be the No. 1 overall pick. With that comes gigantic expectations, and honestly, if he even lives up to an average standard relative to his gaudy draft status, Williams will be the best Chicago Bears quarterback ever.
But Williams doesn’t want to merely do, as I would articulate it, “good for being on the Bears.” He’s aiming as high as possible. Forget all the pre-draft comparisons to Patrick Mahomes.
The former USC star has his sights set on Tom Brady as the all-time great he wants to most emulate.
Putting that out in the universe, well…
But in terms of raw talent, Williams is as gifted as they come. He can create mind-boggling plays out of structure as a passer and as a runner. However, what gets overlooked often with Williams is his ability to actually play from within the pocket and execute at a high level within the confines of the designed play call. For somebody like Williams who can generally be on-target with every throw at every conceivable arm angle, he does in fact have excellent mechanics, a great base that he throws from, and an outstanding quick release. That’s what makes him such a polished prospect and a slam-dunk, no-brainer No. 1 pick.
So yeah, this young man has all the tools to thrive, not to mention a work ethic that’s self-evident in the aforementioned attributes that take a lot of fine tuning and hard hours to ingrain as habits once game days arrive.
Brady was a far different player — should I be talking about TB12’s career in past tense? — in the sense that he couldn’t run or keep plays alive outside the pocket like Williams can, yet he had similar, uncanny presence within the pocket and just knew where to go with the ball damn near every snap. That’s how he won six Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and another in Tampa. But more than anything, Brady continued to steadily improve as his NFL career progressed, and he obviously endeared himself to all his teammates. Those intangibles will go a much longer way in determining whether Williams can even come close to Tom Terrific levels of excellence.
None of this is a shot at Mahomes, either. You could argue that after leading the Chiefs to three Super Bowl wins in five years, he’s already eclipsed Brady as the GOAT in some peoples’ eyes. Or at least that’s where things are trending. Mahomes still needs to win more championships and continue playing at an elite level for another decade or so. At least that’s how I see it.
Regardless, Williams is most frequently compared to Mahomes, and is not shy at all about how he’s pursuing a Brady-esque haul of hardware.
That goes to show you just how massive the hype has gotten around him. For the sake of Bears fans, let’s hope it’s warranted.
I believe it is.
I have Williams No. 1 on my top 100 big board of prospects. We’re also featured on the NFL Mock Draft Database, so go check those out!
