Sports analytics company Pro Football Focus put out its assessment on the floors and ceilings for all second-year NFL quarterbacks. To the surprise of most, former USC Trojan quarterback and No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams was the only quarterback to have his floor be a bust. His ceiling and fullest potential were labeled as Jordan love as well, which is something a lot of USC fans will find disrespectful. To NFL observers, it might simply be premature or at least harsh.
J.J. Mccarthy, a quarterback without a single NFL regular season snap on his belt, received a floor of Sam Darnold, a quarterback who last year threw for 35 touchdowns and 4,319 passing yards, which was top-five in quarterback production. His ceiling was Joe Burrow, a census top-five quarterback in the NFL.
It is a very popular to trend especially from the media to downplay Caleb Williams and unfortunately, he is a player people want to see fail. In this assessment Pro Football Focus failed to look at the obstacles Caleb faced in his rookie season and just looked at his production.
A rookie season in which Caleb Williams threw for 3,541 yards (Bears rookie record), a 20-6 touchdown to interception ratio, and nearly 500 yards rushing, statistically one of the best Bears quarterback seasons in franchise history, still gave Caleb a placement as the quarterback with the lowest ceiling and the worst floor. That’s hard to process.
Even the biggest Caleb Williams skeptic would concede that the Bears’ offensive line was substantially responsible for Caleb’s limitations and the team’s lack of progress. Caleb might not turn out to be an elite quarterback, but it would seem too early to attach his ceiling and floor to his own set of attributes. If his teammates improve but Caleb and the Bears do not, a harsher evaluation would seem warranted. We’re not there yet.
The most notable stat from the Bears’ 2024 season is the 68 sacks Chicago’s porous offensive line allowed. That’s what primarily led to the 5-12 record that stained Caleb’s rookie season. This year, Caleb Williams and the new Bears supporting cast will look to right all of the wrongs.