LOS ANGELES — As Caleb Williams worked out at USC’s pro day, a heavy Chicago Bears contingent headlined by general manager Ryan Poles, head coach Matt Eberflus and offensive coordinator Shane Waldron stood in the corner of the end zone at Allyson Felix Field.
Standing a few feet away were Washington Commanders general manager Adam Peters and head coach Dan Quinn. Their offensive coordinator, Kliff Kingsbury, wasn’t too far away. The Bears control next month’s NFL Draft with the No. 1 pick. The Commanders have the second pick and are in need of a franchise quarterback too.
Williams burst into the national consciousness at Oklahoma when he entered a rivalry game cold as a true freshman, tore off a 66-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1, led a 21-point comeback win against Texas and supplanted preseason Heisman frontrunner Spencer Rattler all within the span of a few hours. He later became one of the most-coveted transfers in the history of college football and one of the modern faces of name, image and likeness in college sports. He ended up at USC, won the Heisman Trophy in 2022 and made the program relevant on a national stage again.
Williams has always had a flair for the dramatic, so it was only natural that his pro day — the final time he’d get to perform at USC — was a spectacle too. All 32 NFL teams had a representative on hand on Wednesday morning. NFL Network and ESPN were set up on campus and interviewed Williams after his performance, as did Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd.
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There was also a swarm of 50-plus reporters waiting to talk to Williams. As has been the case for the past year since he became the frontrunner to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, all eyes were on Williams. It was the most anticipated pro day at USC since at least 2018 — when Sam Darnold threw during a rainstorm — and, honestly, it was probably more anticipated than that considering Williams didn’t throw at the combine in February.
Williams thought his day “went well” but pointed out two deep throws he missed. Even if there was room for improvement, the talent he displayed on film over the past three seasons was apparent during his throwing session.
It felt like one of the rare instances in the pre-draft process where the discussion has been centered on football. So much of the talk about Williams recently has been focused on anything but that. There have been questions about his character and how he is as a teammate, how NFL teams should interpret Williams crying in his mother’s arms after a loss to Washington and his painted fingernails.
And lately, there have been questions about how his father, Carl Williams, and the team around Williams are guiding him through it all in unorthodox fashion. There have been questions about how NFL franchises will view Williams’ father, who has had a significant hand in his son’s developmental plan but is also calculated in a way rarely seen from some quarterbacks’ fathers.
Some of the more significant images to come out of pro day were Poles and Eberflus separately greeting Carl Williams.
Ryan Poles talking with Carl Williams. @adamjahns pic.twitter.com/D3b1dnp09o
— Antonio Morales (@AntonioCMorales) March 20, 2024
NFL Network’s Steve Wyche reported that the Bears’ brass met with Williams ahead of his pro day.
When asked about the meeting, Williams said: “Yeah, it was great. I didn’t really need to learn much. Just building a relationship. They’re trying to see if I’m the right fit to be first pick as QB and possibly be the face of the franchise. They’re trying to figure out if this is the guy they should invest all the time, energy and effort and money into, which is obviously important in this situation. So it was great building relationships.”
Barring some massive surprise over the next month, all signs point to Williams going first. The Bears just traded quarterback Justin Fields, their 2021 first-round pick, to the Steelers over the weekend, clearing the way for Williams to jump into the starting quarterback role immediately.
If more evidence was needed that this was something of a rare day, new Bears receiver Keenan Allen, who was just traded to the team last week, attended pro day to watch Williams and even introduced himself to Williams’ parents.
It’s rather uncommon to see an active NFL player at a college prospect’s pro day. But Williams said he’s known Allen for about a year and now the two are seemingly on track to play with one another.
“To possibly be able to have him as a wide receiver, coming off his best year, all the knowledge that you could gain from somebody like that is great,” Williams said.
When Williams completed his workout, he stood in front of a large scrum of reporters and was asked about what he looked most forward to when he finally becomes a pro.
Williams first said learning. He followed that up by saying adapting as well. Then he followed that up with “getting back in the a locker room. … Being part of a team that you know you’re a part of.”
Because Williams is such a prominent NIL figure and has high-profile advertising deals and brand partnerships, outsiders have wondered how he’ll fit into a locker room. There weren’t many questions about that at USC. He gifted his teammates Beats headphones upon his arrival, brought his offensive line to the Heisman Trophy ceremony in 2022 and ingratiated himself into the locker room well upon his arrival.
“So my first year I wasn’t ready and I wasn’t prepared,” USC receiver Brenden Rice said on Wednesday. “He had to talk to me. He saw what I was doing in practice every day, everybody saw dominance and everything and it wasn’t transferring into the game. The next offseason we went ahead and focused on chemistry, focused on that balance off and on the field, the connection between us, next thing you know it took off.”
USC center Justin Dedich embraced Williams after his performance and wrestled him to the ground.
That’s a BIG DEAL right there
Caleb Williams teammates love em #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/0oCJazFv6z
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 20, 2024
The dynamics in an NFL locker room are much different than college but there haven’t been any issues with Williams as a teammate yet through his playing career.
“People are going to say what they’re going to say,” Dedich said. “He’s just got to stay true to himself, which he always does. He’s a great leader, great athlete.”
And after seeing all the attention and investment his pro day warranted, it seems like Williams is trending more and more toward being the No. 1 pick.
(Photo: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
