Scouting Caleb Williams, the NFL Draft's Best Quarterback | The Play Sheet

USC quarterback Caleb Williams has long been anointed as the first pick in this year's NFL draft, all but certain to be heading to the Chicago Bears. The Ringer's Ben Solak breaks down Williams's college tape, looking at the unique skill set that made for countless explosive plays in his USC days. He also gets into some concerns to address at the pro level. Will Williams reach the heights of other NFL passers in the same mold? Ben thinks that Williams looks more than a little like a certain Kansas City Super Bowl champion QB, but you didn't read that here.
Check out the Bill Simmons KZbin channel: / billsimmons
Subscribe to The Ringer on KZbin: therin.gr/5te1wFL
CONNECT
Shop: theringer.com/shop
Website: theringer.com
Twitter: / ringer
Facebook: / ringer
Instagram: / ringer
KZbin: / @theringernba

[@TheWarrior949]

Wow I can’t believe Ben compared Caleb to Patrick Mahomes

[@benjaminsolak4274]

hey

[@cjartiste]

😆

[@samismith8752]

My favorite part is when he said "Caleb Williams, Patrick Mahomes, I see no difference between these two players. They are the same and you can quote me on that."

[@spiritualarchitect4276]

Why? People are always comparing Caleb and Manhomeboy because they have the same playing style. Everyone is comparing their playing styles. That's all it is. I am sure Homey has seen it too, because Caleb has been doing it since high school. Just watch the films and you will see he plays just like Homeboy.

[@j8k3d18]

How do you not see it? Nobody is saying he is going to have “Mahomes” success, but Williams consistently does wild things, that shouldn’t work, but somehow do. And he did it with subpar talent. USC was not good last year. No elite receivers, bad OL. Injuries. And he still dialed it up. The kid is a player. Despite the obvious massive increase in talent he’ll face, he has a significantly more talented roster to leverage, especially if they take any one of Joe Alt, Odunze, Fuaga, Bowers, Powers-Johnson, etc

[@MrHarrisonCarnaby]

When it's Solak I click

[@benjaminsolak4274]

thank you Mr. Harrison Carnaby

[@calvinmcglade9575]

I had completely stopped watching football for years until I found play sheet and extra point taken etc

[@jaredhinshaw1482]

The elation and anxiety I have watching Caleb as a bears fan is indescribable. Great breakdown as always Ben, keep it up!

[@Bewbscueser]

As a lifelong Bears fan I know we'll be tuning into this channel next year to learn why Bo Nix was the obvious choice all along and if Nathan Hackett can make Caleb into a competent backup. Never forget...WE WILL NEVER HAVE A QUARTERBACK!!!

[@kt773]

@@Bewbscueserchill 😂 Caleb gonna be a star

[@MarcoLiftz]

@@Bewbscueseryou got a dumb mentality

[@Chris-ey8zf]

@@Bewbscueser Bro get lost. Your takes are awful

[@Bewbscueser]

@@Chris-ey8zf Settle down uh...bro. It was a joke. I understand your lizard brain is incapable of processing irony but I assure you it's a thing that exists. Now go get your f****** shine box.

[@khalil7232]

He’s like this Aaron Rodgers, Patrick mahomes, Russell Wilson hybrid with still his own unique qualities and traits. It’s so weird lol

[@walrusmcgee]

He reminds me more of Rodgers than Mahomes

[@26joshn]

I always love the passion Ben has in all his videos.

[@CoryBusby-xh3sl]

Lisan Al Gaib "queue music" It's what we've been waiting for

[@mosttoast3658]

Hi Ben's mom

[@WichitaChiefSam]

I’m a Chiefs fan. I compare Caleb Williams to Patrick Mahomes and I’ve been doing it for 2 years now

[@tkkt8]

Just started watching/listening this past NFL season after you appeared on Dave Chang’s podcast lol, but just wanted to say this is one of the best draft series out there. Love the perfect mix of detailed film breakdowns and humor. You are the Lisan al Gaib of NFL commentary

[@092977ds]

So so so so good. Love it!

[@utxalpha11]

Straight into my veins

[@jeromeclardy174]

Love this breakdown. I'd like to know the situations on these throws (down, distance, score, how many points down...). My first time seeing your analysis. Impressive. I'm subscribed, Great work.

[@samuelweymouth4431]

Love the Arrested Development reference. First video I've seen from you and that alone deserved a sub

[@chase6845]

This was a great video. I’m curious if you have any good pro comps for the way Caleb is able to throw off platform?

[@Snowgangtaefoe]

We was drafting Caleb the minute Justin threw that hell Mary pick 💯🐻⬇️

[@jroe25yt8]

No, we were drafting him as soon as Carolina landed us the 1st overall. Just an opportunity you couldn't pass up.

[@harris8431]

That was a perfect throw by justin.. is this bait i genuinely cant tell

[@j8k3d18]

Man, I feel you. Love Fields. Classy dude. Freak athlete. Just not sure he’ll ever be a Top 10 QB. Williams may not either, but man, all the tools are there. I feel bad for Justin, as he never had an OC, WR corps or OL that helped him out much. He just seemed too gun shy. The fault of Nagy and Pace and then Fleus and Poles? Not to mention their OC? Possibly, but there was a reason he fell to the Bears in 2021. I wish him nothing but success in Pittsburgh.

[@alaneiler2361]

@@j8k3d18JF might be lucky enough to be too 25🤷🏼‍♂️. The guy made the o line look bad by holding onto to ball waaaay to long because he couldn’t get his eyes off the first receiver he was planning on throwing to in the first place. I was blaming the OC at first but then I realized what he was working with and had to dumb down the offense with pop warner plays.

[@hippienerd1638]

Caleb isn't spiderman he's superman bro.. Kyler Gordon is spidey🐻👇

[@JustKicks786]

he has a good defense and offense hes going into; hopefully he can hit the ground running and be a top 15 QB in year 1.

[@ohjay7612]

MOAR

[@lachiedarby8812]

WITH THAT BEING SAID!

[@brettschwanke8696]

I love how the screen said play action and then immediately shows Williams in an empty set 😂

[@barryturner2902]

The CW BEARS will WOW!! They're Blessed to pick #1.

[@user-qp5qp2gu3i]

just wanted to say hi to Ben's mom. hope you're having a nice day

[@edouardk.p.germain2800]

Early bird catches the worm

[@Fred-le7bl]

When you said Caleb is super talented but that he occasionally makes boneheaded, superhero decisions, I was positive you were going to compare him to Josh Allen. When you showed the way he throws off balance and with his feet off the ground, on purpose, I thought you might point out that Jordan Love often does that. But then you said the M word. Just offering some other choices, Ben. I always enjoy your analysis.

[@j8k3d18]

Williams does some crazy stuff. Can’t really recall a QB, at that level, doing what he did. And the PAC-12 was loaded last year. The NFL transition will be interesting, but DJ Moore, Allen and Kmet are all legit doods. Even Swift is a nice addition. Those are weapons he never sniffed in his last 2 years at USC. Addison is nice (hence the Heisman year in 2022), but he’d be WR3 in Chicago, and if they draft Odunze or Nabers? He’d be WR4. He’s just got to hold onto the ball. He doesn’t throw picks, but he runs around neeked on scrambles. Can’t do that in the NFL. He’s not going into Carolina like Young - Caleb has a tailor-made setup coming for a #1 pick.

[@ilovewithcaution]

I have the 1.01 in a superflex dynasty league. My current qbs are Josh Allen and Anthony Richardson. Should I draft Caleb and flip Richardson or should I draft MHJ?

[@maxk4322]

MHJ

[@fourtime7]

Caleb, Part 1000 of the Bears trying to get a franchise QB.

[@unnes]

This is a weird comparison given his eventual career trajectory, but I also see a lot of 2017 Carson Wentz in Caleb.

[@alexamerling79]

BEAR DOWN!

[@RobertMS1979]

🐻⬇️

[@nathanshlap]

His overconfidence is fun but it makes me nervous. I'd want him to take the easy stuff as well, but I'm excited to say the least

[@jamesmarshall6619]

I agree. I'd rather have an aggressive quarterback and try to coach him to take less risks than a risk averse quarterback as risk averse quarterbacks almost never seem to really play more aggressive. Still, some overly aggressive quarterbacks sometimes never stop playing the same way either.

[@TheSjuris]

@@jamesmarshall6619 or you just adjust your system to take full advantage of his skill set. Reid didn’t force Mahomes into his system instead Reid adjusted his system to make Mahomes comfortable while learning how to play in the NFL. Having a flexible coach is paramount to having early success with a rookie or inexperienced qb.

[@nathanshlap]

@@jamesmarshall6619 If he was placed in a good org, that would be one thing, but the bears have a bad track record for coaching. I'm not sure if Waldron is well liked by players (maybe jsn was biased), so I have my questions, but I'm still super stoked about Caleb

[@jroe25yt8]

@@jamesmarshall6619 I know college isn't the NFL, but what's amazing to me is Caleb's extreme ball security with his throws, despite doing all this stuff. The guy rarely throws picks. 3 of his 5 total picks on the year were in a single half of the infamous ND game.

[@VinegarAndSaltedFries]

My big issue with that play style where he doesn’t feel the need to have proper technique is say he gets banged up, or his arm strength from all the reps starts to decline slightly without executing those properly it’ll become an absolute nightmare. love Caleb as a prospect…clearly farthest ahead in the class but it’s why I don’t like the Mahomes Comps. Sure we see him accurate making these throws but not always. That inconsistency is tough. But hey if these are the criticisms it’s a good pick it’s just hard for me to want him as a franchise guy. But hey if Carson Wentz can be moved on from the Bears could always move on before the check comes due. Or he could fix these so massive upsides.

[@stefansinghanath1942]

His Father will bring so much drama to the Chicago Bears.

[@IrishJudahTribe]

Actual quote from Caleb Williams "If they don't like my nails or my phone case, wait till they see my dresses." This is real. Not a joke. LGBTQB1!! 🌈

[@HiltonHudson-zt1rl]

Beat it with the great.. will ya...

[@allank8497]

Yo. early bird

[@derekwilliams4996]

You had to do it didn't you Ben, the comparison. Bears are now jinxed

[@derekwilliams4996]

Love your content

[@TheImmortalQB]

Only critique is slant you want him to throw, pressure up the middle gave him no window, he’s 6-1 too.

[@Blindarch3r]

As a bears fan... dont do that.. dont give me hope

[@clubmogambo3214]

Not sure there's a QB anywhere, anytime that throws against his body quite like Williams.

[@cliffordsutter6967]

How concerned are you about Caleb’s P2S and PRF (pressures responsible for) rates? They’re both a lot worse than Mahomes’ were at Texas Tech

[@KevonDaDon]

Considering he been playing Quarterback longer than Mahomes it should be concerning but the fact that it can be cleaned up and he can get himself out of trouble it shouldn’t be barring major injuries

[@Esteemph]

I fear us Bears fans are gonna become insufferable. hahah

[@SCLSUMudDogs1]

*audibly gasps* ben, its so irresponsible to compare caleb to mahomes! how could you?!?!?

[@choosecarefully408]

I prefer to compare him to Fields. Justin is the Only NFL QB Ever asked to not pass to certain receivers on certain plays leading people to say "it's because he can't read defenses." That's stupid. Having to stop while scrambling for your life _then_ wait for the open receiver to turn so you can read their jersey # *then* have to remember if they're one you're "allowed" to pass to (I'll admit it was His Mistake to obey these commands) requires _more_ reading, not less. Plus there's kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6bLhpV_iNOlbtU proving that he read them faster & better in college than most NFL QBs *now!* So when you eliminate that it's his slow processing what do we have left? 1) He's one of The Best Scramblers, can elevate a team to being the #1 offense in the NFL for weeks at a time _BEFORE_ they acquired D.J. Moore, has the ability to fling the ball 50+ yards in the air with a flick of his wrist kzbin.info/www/bejne/d3fTqoimnNWrmas & can throw while on the run & at weird arm angles threading it through tight windows to covered receivers. In other words, what's left? Wtf can Caleb do that Fields hasn't already? If Poles & Eberflus had this team's best interests at heart over wanting to brag to a very exclusive group of people that "they drafted" Caleb, they'd have made the playoffs with Fields. Instead they set him up to fail including kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJrMfGVni998ldE calling o-line plays designed to fail just so they'd have the excuse to move on from him. So now the guys who would rather make the claim that everything is due to Their Greatness than win without making such claims are Still In Charge? Can't wait to see what happens the First Time Caleb makes a play using his individual ability & Eberflus starts ordering the o-line to sabotage him.

[@jaredsilvers2782]

@@choosecarefully408 Um... that was not a thing. You literally just made that shit up, or you believed an idiot who told you that.

[@C94577]

@@choosecarefully408Justin fields was very famously not a good processor in college. There has been no evidence to show his processing ever sped up. So unless you prove that he has improved into even an average processor, you don’t have an argument. Caleb is also miles better than fields coming out of college. Including as a processor. Justin was qb4, Caleb is qb1. They are not remotely the same.

[@choosecarefully408]

@@C94577 Incorrect, proven kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6bLhpV_iNOlbtU incorrect by stats, eye test, continued ability to process above average in the NFL. At least in '21. Anything else? Or actual, or real? "Famously." It was a rumor. A _false_ rumor. A *demonstrably* false rumor.

[@choosecarefully408]

@@C94577 Fields' processing ability was statistically proven before he ever took a single snap in the NFL kzbin.info/www/bejne/h6bLhpV_iNOlbtU. Then the Bears simply stretched their use of it. I'd compare him to other QBs asked to stop & read jersey numbers before passing, but no other NFL QB has ever been asked to do that. So is that it? You had One Theory. Now it's a bust. So does anyone know at what Caleb is any better than Fields? Other than that the Bears aren't likely to call for the o-line to allow pass-rushers through to him untouched? I mean Actual Skills so that if they were in the same situation, we would be able to say Caleb would throw more TDs or fumble less? In '22 Hurts was in the MVP discussion yet with a top-5 WR duo & the best o-line in the league he threw all of 5 more TDs than Fields. Does this mean Hurts can't process? How do you think you know Fields can't, aside from you heard other people say this? What measure(s) are you using?

[@daviddidder3781]

He ain’t ready for NFC North. Should be fun to watch him elevate or self destruct!!

[@JTTTTTGGGGG]

He deserves better than Shane Waldron 💀💀

[@colinbartlett8255]

As a Bears fan, I'm legitimately curious why you say that. I have mixed feelings about Waldron.

[@richardherrington3815]

Buhhhhaaa what a mistake!!!

[@jti107]

I watched a lot of USC games and it always bothered me that he could not clutch up in some of those games. Granted 90% of the issue was the defense but telling bc as a first pick you will go to bad team and he wasn’t able to carry a bad usc team on his shoulders. But in terms of talent the guy is phenomenal

[@hockeyfan1799]

The Bears aren't a bad team so

[@jamesmarshall6619]

Patrick Mahomes couldn't carry Texas Tech to a winning record, Josh Allen couldn't carry Wyoming's offense his last year as it was one of the worst offenses in college football while he had pedestrian numbers, the Wyoming defense was the main reason they had a decent record Allen's last year. Talented quarterbacks don't just overcome being surrounded by bad teams, they can't control their linemen losing at the line of scrimmage, they can't control their receivers getting open, they have no control over what happens on defense. A quarterback can improve the offense but in the end, if they are outmatched none of them come up clutch. Mahomes had moments where he threw costly interceptions in critical situations such as against ASU and again, Wyoming's offense was awful with Allen consistently throwing costly interceptions his last year at Wyoming. Williams not being able to carry a bad team is normal because in football, bad teams are bad even with talented quarterbacks.

[@jaredsilvers2782]

QBs carrying mediocre to bad teams in power 5 conferences isn't really a thing in college football. Carry a bad offense when you have a good defense? Sure. Carry a bad defense when you have a loaded offense, sure. But bad offense and bad defense? Doesn't happen.

[@irish6783]

The defense was 118th. Bears defense is top 10

[@johnostro7153]

I could barely understand you with that thing in your mouth

[@nickfranco2671]

This video is dumb. You fall in love with a guy who either cant see his receivers being open or doesnt care cuz he wants to make a big play both of which are bad for a qb. And the 5 int he had where when he was forced to play qb and play at an nfl level. He will eventually be good but it will be a rough rookie season especially if he thinks he is ready and not needing much improvement

[@kapsisback8893]

You have No idea what your talking about delete the comment

[@nickfranco2671]

@@kapsisback8893 lmfao nothing I said was false or even remotely inaccurate this video even proves he choose the big play over the open receivers. Only guess work is if he does it knowing they are open or doesn't see them. Sorry you can't comprehend basic football and everyone admits the games he looked the worse in was due to the competition being as close to the NFL as possible for USC schedule they just blamed his team for being shit as a reason for him forcing the ball and getting it picked.