INDIANAPOLIS — It’s first or worst for Caleb Williams.
The favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft isn’t counting on the worst-case scenario of him being passed by Drake Maye, Jaden Daniels, or both, dropping him a spot or two in the first round.
“I don’t have that in mind,” Williams said Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I don’t think I can’t be No. 1. I’ve worked hard. I don’t think I can’t be No. 1. I’ve worked hard.” All the time, effort, and energy you put into making it happen. I don’t have a plan B. That’s how I live my life. “I don’t have a plan B. Just stick with plan A and find a way to make plan A work when things go wrong.”
Williams also takes the trend among top quarterbacks of not participating in on-field practices to the next level by also skipping medical exams, making him perhaps the first to participate since the combine began in 1985. However, he will be the first candidate to omit his original purpose.
“I plan on working in the medical field, just not here in Indy,” Williams said. “I’m going to do it in interviews with teams. There’s not going to be 32 teams that can draft me. There’s only one of me. So the teams I’m going to go to for my own purposes are: [facility] All you have to do is visit the doctor and see the doctor. ”
The Bears hold the No. 1 pick and will likely draft Williams and trade incumbent starter Justin Fields. But it’s also possible they keep Fields and trade the pick, or they trade Fields and trade the pick and select another quarterback.
“Caleb is the only franchise changer in this draft,” a source at a team with a top-10 pick told the Post.
Williams shut down talk last week that he might not want to play in Chicago. The Commanders hold the No. 2 pick, are his hometown team and offer a “really great” opportunity, and have his former USC assistant coach, Kliff Kingsbury, installed as offensive coordinator. are doing.
“I want to go to a place where I want to win,” Williams said. “It’s a full 360 degrees, from the top to the managers to the people who run everything. Everyone wants to win, everyone is a part of it, and we all care about each other.”
The Bears have only had one quarterback appear in the Pro Bowl since 1985. Even he (Mitch Trubisky) was considered a draft failure after going No. 2 in 2017 over Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson.
Is that history enough to scare Williams?
“I don’t compare myself to other players who are there or have been there,” Williams said. “I consider myself my own player. I tend to like making history and rewriting history.”
But it takes a certain amount of historical revisionist history to say that Williams is a solid choice. There was also some criticism when he cried in his mother’s arms after the loss to Washington.
“This season has been one of those seasons that is unlike any other season that has brought me closer to neutral.” [.500] Or have a near-losing record. It was tough for me,” Williams said.
He went on to say, “There aren’t many people in the world who can experience what I experience every day in a game, in every practice. It’s about winning with my teammates. Every time I lose, I feel like I let my teammates down.”
How do teammates react to Williams? Just ask former USC receiver Brendan Rice, whose father is Hall of Famer Jerry Rice.
“Every time I go down, I just bring my ‘A’ game,” Rice said. “Because he expects a lot from you to better yourself as a person on and off the field.”
But Williams’ record is misleading, his supporters say. He is undefeated when the team’s defense (which was notorious by USC’s standards last season) allows fewer than 34 points.
So he will stand on that resume and not on combine training.
“I played about 30 games,” Williams said. “Now watch my actual live ball and see how I am as a competitor.”
