(Photo Credit: All Trojans on FanNation)
In anticipation of the upcoming rookie minicamp, Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus wasted no time in appointing Caleb Williams as the team’s starting quarterback (QB).
“No conversation,” Eberflus said. “He’s the starter.”
Pre-Draft Preparations
Eberflus’ decision solidified the expected outcome for the Bears following their selection of the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner with the No. 1 pick in last month’s draft. Williams was the sole quarterback to visit the Bears on a top-30 visit, and Chicago was the only team he visited before the draft. Bears coaches began teaching the former USC quarterback on their offensive playbook before his pro day in Los Angeles and continued during Williams’ visit to Halas Hall in early April.
Collaboration with Private Coach
Williams also took the initiative to work with his private quarterback coach, Will Hewlett, to master the fundamentals of the Bears’ offense before participating in this weekend’s minicamp.
“You always want to get ahead if you can, and so with those things that they gave me, I would take it to my QB trainer and we would use the cadence, we would use the drops, we would use all those things so that’s not something that’s on my mind throughout the process of when I actually got here,” Williams said.
Mastering the Bears’ Playbook
Eberflus mentioned that the Bears provided Williams and Hewlett with the basics of the offense, including terminology, route combinations, cadence, and huddle management.
This early preparation has given Williams the confidence to assist others in learning the offense during the rookie minicamp.
“Right now I feel pretty good,” Williams said. “Obviously we’ll go out here today, and we’re going to have a few mess-ups, probably, and things like that, working to do, eliminate those as fast as possible. But you need those things to grow and progress throughout the time and years and things like that. So excited, but I feel pretty good right now.”
Expectations for Williams
Eberflus outlined several benchmarks that the Bears expect Williams to achieve in the coming months leading up to training camp.
“Full understanding of the concepts: run, pass, checks and his fundamentals,” Eberflus said. “The fundamentals that we have in place for him, which, he’s really good fundamentally, but we have some things we want him to work on and improve as well.”
This report used information from ESPN.
