While recent reports indicated that Caleb Williams isn’t the unanimous QB1 prospect across the NFL, the Bears are leaving no doubt about their trust in the projected top-overall pick. As Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune writes, the Bears believe there is a “pretty wide gap” between the USC product and the rest of the quarterback class.
The 2022 Heisman winner has long been regarded as the top passer in the 2024 class. After the Bears secured the first-overall selection, the team quickly ripped off the band-aid and avoided a QB controversy by dealing Justin Fields. That trade all but confirmed that the organization was going to select a rookie QB.
However, the team has yet to reveal which QB they’ll select. There’s little incentive to reveal their choice early, but as Biggs notes, that’s led to some speculation that the team could pursue a move down the draft board.
Before the Bears settled their QB depth chart, the Commanders looked like they could be a landing spot for Williams. That move would have sent Williams back to the area in which he went to high school at Gonzaga College HS, and it would have reunited him with college coach Kliff Kingsbury.
If the Bears wanted to pick up even more assets and still snag a top quarterback prospect, a trade with the Commanders could have made sense. However, if the Bears believe there’s a significant drop in talent at the position after Williams, there isn’t any amount of trade assets that would make up that gap.
There seemed to be some cracks in Williams’ consensus number-one ranking earlier this week. There were some rumblings that teams have graded LSU’s Jayden Daniels over the USC QB, with some organizations believing the prospect had an underwhelming pre-draft process. While most teams seemed to understand that this was a “byproduct of being a player who knows he’s going No. 1,” Williams didn’t look as invincible atop the draft board as he once did.