The Chicago Bears have a lot of faith in quarterback Caleb Williams. They drafted him with the first overall pick for a reason. There are going to be some adjustments for him in the NFL, but he has all of the talent he needs to get the job done.
One of those adjustments will be taking snaps under center from time to time. Williams will have to get the timing, cadence, and footwork down perfectly before the time comes for games.
When Williams was at USC (and Oklahoma), he was exclusively a shotgun quarterback. Most guys in college can say the same. However, Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron runs an offense that has his guy under center a lot. Williams will have to be ready for that, but Waldron believes he is already ahead of schedule.
“I think the one thing Caleb has shown is that he can be in all sorts of backfield alignments,” Waldron said. “He did a great job at his pro day, he’s played quarterback his whole life, so I think the biggest thing will be just the footwork and really mastering that first step from under center, something that he’s taken pride in already and really gotten a jump on in this rookie minicamp. But he’s played the position his whole life, just like these other guys have, so I think there’s a good, natural transition. It wasn’t something where Caleb was starting from total scratch with the drops and his footwork.”
We already know that Williams has gotten off to a head start with just about everything else, and this is no different. He will be ready for this transition in no time. With the talent he has at the quarterback position, Williams could probably just jump in and play from under center right now if he wanted. Luckily, he’ll have plenty of practice between now and the start of the regular season.
Waldron is very complimentary of Williams already, which is great. These two are going to lead what promises to be a good offense in year one with Williams as the guy. With all of the weapons around them, it should be a joy to watch.