Bears begin new era by selecting USC’s Caleb Williams with No. 1 pick in 2024 NFL Draft
The winds of Chicago never knocked the Bears off of making Caleb Williams their next franchise quarterback.
One of the biggest foregone conclusions in NFL Draft history became official Thursday night when the Bears selected Williams with the No. 1 overall pick.
The Bears didn’t host any of the other five projected first-round quarterbacks on a facility visit, and Williams didn’t visit any other teams.
Williams, 22, steps into a situation more conducive to immediate success than any No. 1-drafted quarterback since at least Andrew Luck in 2011. Maybe longer.
The Bears finished 7-10 last season but held the No. 1 pick by virtue of a March 2023 trade with the Panthers, who went a league-worst 2-15. They also are scheduled to pick No. 9.
Since the season ended, the Bears added Keenan Allen – who is coming off of a 108-catch, 1,243-yard season and sixth Pro Bowl selection – in a trade with the Chargers to pair with D.J. Moore (96 catches for 1,364 yards) and form arguably the NFL’s best receiver tandem.
In total, the Bears spent $166 million this offseason, including $77 million on free agents, per spotrac.com.
The Bears also traded starting quarterback Justin Fields to the Steelers for a sixth-round pick to make room for Williams, after choosing to hold onto Fields and not pick either Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 Draft (traded to the Panthers).
“I want to play in one place for 20 years, and chase one guy, No. 12,” Williams said, in reference to Tom Brady’s record seven Super Bowl rings, during a recent appearance on “The Pivot” podcast. “I want a place that loves ball. That’s all I’ve heard about Chicago so far, which is exciting for me.”
Williams was seen as a future No. 1 overall pick since he arrived as a prized recruit at Oklahoma and unseated starter Spencer Rattler. He won the 2022 Heisman Trophy after following head coach Lincoln Riley to USC and finished his three-year college career with a 66.9 percent completion rate, 10,082 passing yards, 93 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
An off-script playmaker, Williams might be at his best making the Patrick Mahomesian throws that have become all the rage. He was 12-0 at USC when his defense allowed fewer than 34 points.
The Bears’ search for a franchise quarterback makes the Jets’ drought since Joe Namath seem short-lived. Only three Bears quarterbacks have been selected to the Pro Bowl – Billy Wade in 1963, Jim McMahon in 1985 and Mitch Trubisky in 2018 – since their last First-Team All Pro quarterback (Johnny Lujack) in 1950.
Williams is supposed to be the quarterback who makes the Bears forget about their past first-round mistakes like Cade McNown, Rex Grossman, Trubisky and Fields. None are more haunting than Trubisky, who, despite going 29-21 and leading the way to two playoff berths, could never shake the reputation of being selected No. 2 overall in 2017 – eight spots before Mahomes.
In one of the deepest quarterback classes ever, the Bears never seriously considered Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye or J.J. McCarthy, all of whom entered Thursday expecting to be top-11 picks.
But Williams isn’t the perfect prospect. He led college football with 33 fumbles and was sacked 84 times – both a result of holding the ball too long – over the last three seasons.
Williams also is a status-quo challenger and, in some ways, the first of what could be the norm in the NIL world after he reportedly earned about $10 million in endorsements last season.
His first contract with the Bears will be worth a fully guaranteed $38.5 million over four years – unless he finds a way to fight the NFL rookie wage scale.
“Really intelligent guy. Came across as a really good teammate, easy to talk to, down to earth,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said recently when asked how current players felt about Williams after dining with him on his pre-draft visit. “We’ve talked through this process about the whole Hollywood thing. He’s all ball, wants to work, wants to get better, wants to win as a team.”
Old-school NFL thinkers are not necessarily comfortable with Williams’ painted fingernails, pink cell phone or the way he jumped into the stands and cried in his mother’s arms after a loss to Washington last season.
Williams became the first prospect in NFL Combine history to decline universally shared medical exams – only the Bears have access to his medicals.
He bypassed hiring an agent and left his father, Carl, in charge of managing many aspects of his life, which reportedly prompted an inquiry as to whether Caleb could have an ownership stake in his franchise.
He can’t own the Bears by NFL rule. But he’ll have a chance to “own” Chicago soon enough.
