Caleb Williams, Matthew Stafford share unique QB perspective, mutual admiration

Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams always liked watching Calvin Johnson highlights. He was in awe of “Megatron” catching passes in double and triple coverage.

As Williams got older, he started paying more attention to the guy throwing Johnson the ball.

“I kind of realized how good Matthew Stafford is at his job,” Williams said.

The Bears (1-2) host the Los Angeles Rams (1-2) on Sunday, and while Williams and Stafford aren’t playing against each other, the No. 1 pick gets to share the field with a quarterback he’s admired. On “The Kay Adams Show” earlier this summer, Williams couldn’t believe that Stafford ranked No. 42 on the NFL’s Top 100 list.

“I don’t think I can name two, three quarterbacks that play the position better than Matthew Stafford right now,” he said.

Stafford, in his 16th NFL season, has become the quarterback younger signal callers, like Williams and Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud, revere.

“It’s humbling,” Stafford said. “I remember being in their shoes, thinking the same thing about Brett Favre and Peyton Manning when I got to go against those guys at the beginning of my career. I’m not putting myself in that same breath, but it was a really cool experience.”

When Favre played in Minnesota, he approached Stafford at a Lions–Vikings game, an exchange Stafford will “never forget.”

“He came up to me and was like, ‘Hey man, I’m a big fan,’ ” Stafford said. “I’m like, ‘You can’t say that to me, right? I’m the fan of you. I’ve been watching you play for forever.’ So it is cool. It’s humbling that these guys are paying attention.”

Williams and Stafford figure to have a similar interaction Sunday when the quarterbacks meet postgame.

“First, I’d say (Stafford) controls the game as a quarterback,” Williams said Wednesday at Halas Hall. “He knows how to get in and out of things efficiently. He knows where people are going to be. He knows where the defensive players are going to be, so he can move them on a string.

“Watching him be able to move defenders, be able to move and maneuver in the pocket and still deliver some nice passes down the field or even just getting the ball to your back and allowing him to go to work. Keeping the ball in play. A bunch of different arm angles and things like that.

“He’s been doing it for a while. So watching someone like that who has the success that he‘s had, you want to learn from that.”

Rams head coach Sean McVay is in his fourth year with Stafford, and he has heard from plenty of quarterbacks who admire the way Stafford plays.

“I think there’s a lot of respect for the toughness, the competitiveness of Matthew — the ability to always stay in the fight,” McVay said. “Some of the other things in terms of how he’s beating you with his ability to manipulate coverage through his eyes, understanding how to move defenders that are visual on him to open and expand windows.”

Quarterbacks are notoriously football nerds. They will watch the tape of guys who came before them just as much as they study their present-day colleagues.

“I think when you talk to any of these younger quarterbacks … there’s a lot of respect and reverence for the way that Matthew goes about it from coaches and players because they can really appreciate the finer things that maybe get lost unless you’re really evaluating and know what is going on from an all-22 perspective,” McVay said. “He’s a fun guy to watch, too.”

Williams’ first three NFL starts have all come against second-year quarterbacks — Will Levis, Stroud and Anthony Richardson. But there’s something different about facing a QB who’s seen as much as Stafford and can still do it at a high level.

“The old dog still has some cool tricks that he can bust out,” McVay said. “I think the respect that you earn from your peers, especially at such a special fraternity of people that play the position, that’s really cool. Anybody that I really respect or that I’ve talked to, whether it’s a player or someone that coaches the position, there’s a ton of reverence and respect for Matthew based on what he’s done all throughout his career.”

Williams was 8 years old when the Lions selected Stafford with the No. 1 overall pick in 2008. As much as Williams can learn from the 2024 version of Stafford, he can also take note of how Stafford’s career began, as the most recent No. 1 pick navigates his own rookie turbulence.

Stafford was 2-8 as a rookie, as he took over for a winless Lions team. He threw 13 touchdown passes and 20 interceptions.

“(My rookie season) was tough for sure,” he said, “we were a team in a lot of transition at that point. … There were some big-time highs, and some big-time lows as far as my play and our team’s performance.”

Williams is 1-2 with two touchdown passes, four interceptions and a lost fumble. He’s coming off his most productive performance but hasn’t gotten a ton of help from the run game, offensive line or play calling.

Rookie to rookie 🙌

📺: #CHIvsIND on CBS pic.twitter.com/6sBrElwAJu

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 22, 2024

It’s not like Williams needs to be reminded of Stafford’s first season. He knows how it works in this league, even on a roster that was built for him to avoid some of those typical struggles. Stafford’s tougher moments as a young player will always stay with him, despite his years of success.

Only players who have gone through what a rookie season really is for a quarterback understand how their range of experiences shapes them as they grow.

“It’s all a learning opportunity, a chance to find what you can do (and) what you can’t do,” said Stafford, who believes that quarterbacks who want to play in the NFL for a long time have to stick together and pull for each other. “(Williams) is obviously immensely talented. He makes plays every single week that you see on TV that blow you away. As a quarterback, I sit there and go, ‘Man, that’s some incredible stuff.’ And then I’m sure there are plays he wants back — like all of us.

“He seems like a sharp kid, really talented. I’m sure he’ll figure it out.”

Bears center Coleman Shelton played for the Rams the previous five seasons, starting 30 games from 2022-23.

When he found out about the high praise Williams offered for his former teammate, he said the rookie picked the right veteran to emulate.

“I think he’s really smart for saying that,” Shelton said. “Matthew’s a pro’s pro. He goes out there and he’s a competitor and he grinds. It’s great tape for him to watch. … Both obviously are extreme arm talents. They can throw the football. Matthew’s no-look stuff or being able to throw while he’s getting hit and all that stuff is so impressive. Caleb’s doing that, too.”

In Los Angeles, backup center/guard Justin Dedich was Williams’ center at USC. Williams took Dedich, along with the rest of the Trojans’ offensive line, with him to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony after the 2022 season. Dedich now sees Stafford’s habits and knowledge up close.

“Just watching Matthew it’s like, he’s an exceptional leader. … He knows the game at a different level,” Dedich said. “He’s a great leader through words but (also) with emotions and actions. I think that’s what Caleb sees, because (Stafford is) a player (who) everyone on this team looks up to him. As a rookie coming in this year, it’s like, you hear so much about Matthew. You get to see him work, it reassures that persona of him. I see what Caleb sees about him and I’m glad he chose Matthew (to look up to).”

Stafford jokes that the praise he has recently gotten from the NFL’s next generation of quarterbacks makes him “feel old — but I’ll take it.”

It brings him back — to the good, the bad, the challenging; to how he grew up as a player and a person. That’s the journey of every rookie quarterback in the NFL.

“It wasn’t all smooth sailing, I know that, right? I was trying to figure it all out,” Stafford said. “I was trying to be the best player I could for our team, try to figure out being that far away from home, there’s just so many things transitioning in your life at that point.

“The more you focus on the things that you can control, the better off you’ll be.”

(Top photos of Matthew Stafford and Caleb Williams: Rey Del Rio and Stacy Revere / Getty Images)