{"id":53839,"date":"2025-05-16T04:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T04:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/53839\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T04:17:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T04:17:11","slug":"caleb-williams-camp-tried-to-avoid-bears-in-2024-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/53839\/","title":{"rendered":"Caleb Williams’ Camp Tried To Avoid Bears In 2024 Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Caleb Williams<\/a> slated to go first-overall to the Bears in the 2024 draft, the quarterback\u2019s camp considered some unconventional options in an attempt to avoid Chicago. In Seth Wickersham\u2019s upcoming book, \u201cAmerican Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback,\u201d there are some notable anecdotes (via ESPN.com<\/a>) surrounding Williams\u2019 wariness of going to the Bears.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The player\u2019s father, Carl Williams, described Chicago as \u201cthe place quarterbacks go to die,\u201d with the QB himself questioning his ability to succeed in then-offensive coordinator Shane Waldron\u2018s system. Williams\u2019 camp went as far as considering circumventing the draft altogether, consulting with lawyers about ways they could get \u201caround the league\u2019s collective bargaining agreement.\u201d One of the considered options would have seen Williams signing with the United Football League.<\/p>\n

Carl Williams plainly stated to agents that he didn\u2019t want his son playing for the Bears. Specifically, the quarterback\u2019s camp cited the franchise\u2019s lack of recent success at the position, as well as the Bears\u2019 stadium uncertainty and tepid performance under then-head coach Matt Eberflus.<\/p>\n

As Williams\u2019 camp looked for ways for the prospect to choose his own landing spot, Carl Williams consulted with Archie Manning, who helped Eli Manning<\/a> avoid the Chargers in favor of the Giants in 2004. In addition to his overall concern about Chicago, Carl Williams also had issues with the league\u2019s rookie-wage scale and the fact that any franchise could effectively prevent first-round picks from hitting free agency for eight years.<\/p>\n

A conversation with Vikings head coach Kevin O\u2019Connell had the quarterback clamoring for a way to play in Minnesota. After Bears GM Ryan Poles \u201cstood firm\u201d and refused to trade the first-overall pick, the player\u2019s camp considered making the situation untenable by attacking both the organization and the city of Chicago. Ultimately, a pre-draft visit to the Bears facilities stopped Williams and his family from making any public protests, and he ended up landing in Chicago with the first-overall pick.<\/p>\n

Of course, since Williams was drafted, the Bears have already seen some significant changes to leadership. Waldron was the first casualty from the Bears\u2019 underwhelming start to the season, and Eberflus also didn\u2019t make it through the entirety of the QB\u2019s first NFL campaign (before that happened, Wickersham passes along a story where Williams studied film alone, without instruction from coaches). The team has since hired former Lions OC Ben Johnson to guide the squad, and the new head coach said he doesn\u2019t have any concerns about today\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a chance for greatness here for him,\u201d Johnson said during an appearance today on The Herd<\/a>. \u201cHe\u2019s been communicated that way and he feels the same way. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s gone on prior to him joining the organization, but he is very proud to be a Chicago Bear. That\u2019s what our conversations have included. He\u2019s really excited to get to work right now and be the best version of himself for 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Caleb Williams slated to go first-overall to the Bears in the 2024 draft, the quarterback\u2019s camp considered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1036,391,7,6192,18382,9113,259,6,15,1034,18347],"class_list":{"0":"post-53839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-caleb-williams","9":"tag-chicago-bears","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kevin-oconnell","12":"tag-matt-e","13":"tag-matt-eberflus","14":"tag-minnesota-vikings","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-nfl-draft","17":"tag-ryan-poles","18":"tag-shane-waldron"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114515584225396657","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}