It seemed all but predetermined that the Chicago Bears, owners of the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, would take Caleb Williams.
The former Heisman Trophy winner had excelled at USC and seemed like the type of player a franchise could build around. The Bears did indeed take Williams, and as a rookie, he passed for 3,541 yards and 20 touchdowns while throwing just six interceptions. He also racked up another 489 yards on the ground, providing hope for the struggling franchise’s future.
Caleb Williams’ Future Did Not Always Include Bears or NFL
With his first NFL season in the past and Williams looking toward a fresh start with new coach Ben Johnson, details have emerged that he was at first not all that enthusiastic about joining the Bears.
According to a new book to be released in September, “American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback,” Williams’ dad, Carl, told author Seth Wickersham that “Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die.”
The Windy City’s history with passers, at least recently, has been a mixed bag. Justin Fields showed some promise, as did Mitchell Trubisky. But neither former first-round pick developed into a star for the organization, and it was fair to wonder if Williams—despite his prodigious talent—could succeed where they had failed, especially with defensive-minded head coach Matt Eberflus in charge.
So, as Wickersham writes, Carl told multiple agents he didn’t want Williams playing for the Bears. Instead, he and his son were hoping he would land in Minnesota to play for the Vikings under QB guru coach Kevin O’Connell. That was never really an option. The Bears were going to take Williams, so if he didn’t want to play in Chicago, he would have had to explore not playing in the NFL at all.
Which, according to the book, he considered. ESPN wrote:
“Looking for a way around the league’s collective bargaining agreement, Carl Williams spoke with Archie Manning, who helped Eli Manning assert a measure of control over his eventual team in 2004. He also met with labor lawyers and agents — and even considered whether his son could sign with the United Football League and become an unrestricted NFL free agent in 2025 to be able to pick a team.”
“In addition to the draft process, Carl Williams vented about the rookie wage scale, which could lock his son into the team that drafted him for up to eight years. He calculated hundreds of millions of lost market-value income.”
Wickersham wrote that Carl made his feelings on the rookie cap and NFL CBA very clear, and that he was not a fan of either. How close Williams got to spurning the Bears and the NFL for the UFL, we may never know—and the chaos it would have led to would have been quite the story.
Nevertheless, Williams eventually came around to the idea of playing in Chicago and is at the beginning of what many believe will be a great NFL career. That’s not only good for the Bears, but given his entertaining style of play, the NFL as a whole.