NEWSLETTER
Caleb Williams and his visit with the Chicago Bears has had my curiosity piqued since the moment news of his trip to Halas Hall came to light.
There is something about the getting-to-know-you process the Bears are going through with Williams that I find truly fascinating. And while I don’t expect every little detail to emerge, I feel as if there are some good nuggets to be shared. For what it’s worth, I think we’re reaching that beginning point of the nugget-sharing phase.
As part of his Monday post, SI.com’s Albert Breer pulls the curtain back a bit on what went down when Williams met with the Bears last week. There is plenty of good stuff in the piece as we gear up to the NFL Draft, so I encourage you to check it out. But first, I found this passage to be worth highlighting as it fills in some details regarding Williams’ trip to Chicago:
Williams was one of a half-dozen prospects to have their 30 visits last Wednesday at Halas Hall in Lake Forest. The crew arrived Tuesday night, and was divided into two dinner groups. The other draft guys went to Eddie Merlot’s in nearby Lincolnshire. Williams went with the team brass and a group of veterans to Sophia Steak in Lake Forest, and Williams sat with a group of his presumed future teammates.
The next day, a number of young veterans were in the building for Williams’s visit to the team headquarters, including Tyrique Stevenson and DJ Moore. Moore, for what it’s worth, hadn’t yet been back to the facility this offseason, and used the trip to meet some of his new offensive coaches for the first time. That it happened the day Williams was there didn’t seem to be coincidental.
And now, after meetings at the combine, two dinners ahead of his pro day in L.A., and last week’s events in the Chicago suburbs, it’s starting to feel like the end of Williams’s draft process is starting to meld together with the beginning of his career as a Bear.
There are a bunch of fun little tidbits in those three paragraphs above from Breer. Some of them leave me wanting to ask more questions. For instance, who else was visiting with Williams? Which players were part of what groups that were split up by Bears brass? What was the other dinner like? That stuff might not matter, but it could make for some great storytelling in the future. Here’s hoping more details will pop up in the coming days and weeks.
Caleb Williams and the Bears are laying a foundation ahead of the NFL Draft
While some of the nuggets from Breer left me with more questions, some of what The MMQB columnist shared is straight-up tasty. Most notably, the information about which active Bears players were present. It makes sense that wide receiver D.J. Moore got a chance to meet Williams during his visit. The connection those two build will be an important factor in how the team’s future will look. However, that wasn’t the player whose presence at Williams’ visit that stuck with me the most. Having cornerback Tyrique Stevenson in for the Caleb Williams Halas Hall visit is interesting, too.
The way I see it, the Bears including Stevenson in this part of the process speaks volumes of what the team thinks of him.
If you’re prioritizing putting your best foot forward in this acclimation process, then it makes sense to have a top rookie performers from 2023 in for the visit starring the presumptive first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Given Tyrique Stevenson’s first year experience, he seems like a good fit to fill Caleb Williams in on what goes down for rookies. Stevenson has recent first-hand knowledge of the ramp up process for first-year players at Halas Hall from last year. In theory, the 2024 second-round pick can lean on his experience and success as a rookie and relay that to Williams.
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Perhaps, my biggest takeaway from the Breer information dump is that the Bears are giving Caleb Williams a chance to connect with players on both sides of the ball. And in my book, that is a win-win. That stuff might seem small, but it isn’t inconsequential — especially if you’re trying to create a soft-landing for Williams’ arrival on NFL Draft weekend.
Signs have been pointing to the Bears drafting a quarterback for a while now. But since trading Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers in March, Chicago’s football team has done nothing to hide its intent to draft Caleb Williams. If anything, everything the Bears have done this offseason has been with Williams in mind. Only now is everyone willing to see it. There are just 17 days to go until the NFL Draft. And even though nothing is officially official at this point, it sure seems like Caleb Williams will be the Bears’ next quarterback.
