A bombshell report dropped on Thursday indicates that Caleb Williams and others around him tried to find a way around getting drafted by the Chicago Bears. At the end of the day, none of this may matter, as Williams is on the Bears and is not going anywhere, but this report is flat-out wild.
The Chicago Bears used the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on Caleb Williams, the talented QB who played his college football at Oklahoma and USC. In his first year with the Bears, just about nothing worked, but Williams did throw more than three times as many touchdowns as interceptions, which is absolutely something of note.
However, it seems like that if Williams initially got his way, he may never would have ended up on the Bears...
Bombshell report could have been a disaster for Bears fans
Here is the full report from Seth Wickersham of ESPN:
Here are some of the juiciest blurbs from the interview that does make it seem like Caleb Williams, his father, and others around him were actively trying to steer-clear of the Bears:
"Quarterback Caleb Williams was so concerned about being picked by the Chicago Bears in 2024 that he and his family weighed blowing up the entire NFL draft, consulting with lawyers to figure out a way around the league's collective bargaining agreement while considering signing with the United Football League, details from a forthcoming book reveal.Seth Wickersham
Caleb Williams wondered aloud to confidants: "Do I want to go there? I don't think I can do it with [former Bears offensive coordinator Shane] Waldron."
After an up-and-down final season at USC, Caleb Williams was unsure of what he wanted to do as he prepared for the 2024 draft. At the NFL combine that year, he met with Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell. The two hit it off, and Caleb Williams began to dream of what it would be like to play for Minnesota.
"I need to go to the Vikings," he told his father.
"Let's do it," his father replied. But both Caleb and Carl knew that a trade to a divisional rival was extremely unlikely."
It's not very likely that we'd see some blatantly false reporting from Seth Wickersham of ESPN - that isn't likely - it is likely, though, that all of the information contained in this report is 100% true, and it does make sense. It really feels like that Caleb Williams' father, Carl Williams, was the driving force behind this pushback on heading to the Bears.
But honestly, the second Chicago clinched the top pick in 2024, they were likely locked-in on Caleb Williams. In the 2024 NFL Draft, there were six QBs who ended up going in the first 12 picks, as after Williams was picked, all of Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr, JJ McCarthy, and Bo Nix.
The Bears were quite bad in 2024 and ended up essentially blowing up their coaching staff, as Ben Johnson is now leading the charge, and this team is quite good on paper, having fixed their offensive line and adding other key talent in the offseason as well.
Right now, it's hard to imagine that Williams and the Bears do not improve to some degree in 2025 - if they don't, something deeper might be wrong with this team.