The Chicago Bears taking USC’s Caleb Williams with the overall no. 1 pick in this April’s NFL draft is pretty much taken for certain by most NFL experts. And there’s definitely a reason why many think the former Heisman award-winning blue chip quarterback prospect is a lock for that top spot.
Analysts and scouts are almost unanimous in their assessment of Williams as the top QB in this upcoming draft and a player with elite-level and even generational talent. While there are some detractors, the consensus is that Williams is really THAT good.
But how good is he when stacked up against quarterback legends?
How Good Is Caleb Williams?
Some analysts have compared him, in terms of skill, ability and temperament, to 4-time MVP and future first ballot Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, formerly with the Green Bay Packers and currently with the New York Jets.
Matt Miller, NFL draft analyst for ESPN, recently made that comparison in a piece about the current 2024 draft class, where he had this to say about the talented 22-year-old:
“The top overall player in the 2024 draft class, Williams combines excellent arm strength, mobility and field vision with a knack for making creative plays when defenses close in on the pocket. At 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds, he is responsible for 93 touchdowns over the past two seasons at USC (72 passing, 21 rushing).
Sure, he will need to clean up the fumbles (eight in 2023) and get the ball out faster (3.14 seconds to throw on average), but the NFL-style playmaking and jaw-dropping passing ability has scouts calling him a rare prospect. What he’s able to do on second-effort plays is impressive, and Williams would have been my top-rated quarterback in each of the past five draft classes. He looks like a lock to go No. 1 right now.”
More Williams-Rodgers Comparisons
Miller hasn’t been the only one drawing comparisons between Williams and the legendary QB.
In another piece by ESPN’s Miller, from October of 2023, a AFC regional scout was quoted raving about Williams’ up side.
“To me, he’s peak-era Aaron Rodgers,” the scout told Miller. “The way he moves in the pocket to create passing windows and then, boom, he’s thrown a no-looker across his body or a deep ball that looked impossible.”
In that same article, another AFC scout echoed that assessment.
“When everyone said Mahomes, I said young Aaron Rodgers,” the other scout said, regarding who Williams resembled on the field. “Just Google 2008-2012 Rodgers highlights. It’s awesome. And it looks just like Williams.”
George Whitfield Jr., private quarterback coach and guru who has has trained the likes of Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Jameis Winston, Johnny Manziel, and Ben Rothlisberger among others, has made that Aaron Rodgers comparison as well.
“His generational talent combined with his confidence and his swag,” Whitfield said on College Football Live, back in August of 2022. “If I was gonna wrap this for you guys, imagine [rapper] Kendrick Lamar and Aaron Rodgers both enter a phone booth — it’s Caleb Williams who walks out the other side. I’ve been around him in high school, I’ve been around him at elite eleven a couple weeks ago. Every time he picks up the football you’re like, ‘I didn’t know a football could do that. I didn’t know a person could do that with a football.’”
Oklahoma Sooners analyst Kegan Reneau, who recalls Williams’ early days with the team before transferring to USC was actually among the first to make that Williams-Rodgers comparison.
“Caleb Williams is your best quarterback in college football? There’s no ifs or buts about it in my mind,” Reneau said in a June, 2022 episode of the Riley Files podcast. “This kid has every tool you’re looking for. You want to talk about an NFL team. You wanna talk about building around the guy that has Aaron Rodgers-like qualities working in and out of the pocket but with more athleticism. That’s been where I’ve gone to in my comparisons for him.”
The Chicago Bears are hoping all of these experts are right. If they decide to draft him, of course.