The quarter-back Caleb Williams would have attempted by all means to avoid being drafted by the Bears of Chicago in 2024, according to a book that will soon appear.
Williams was so concerned about the idea of being selected by the Bears that he and his family planned to bypass the entire NFL draft process by consulting lawyers to find a way to get around the League collective agreement, even planning to join the United Football League, we can read in the book “American Kings: A Biography of the quarterback”.
“Chicago is the place where the quarter-arrers are going to die,” said Caleb Williams, Carl, to the book author, Seth Wickersham, in the previous months the 2024 draft.
According to the writings of Wickersham, Carl Williams would have done everything to try to allow her son to choose his future employer.
The Bears had not recruited a star quarterrier since the 1980s, and their recent choices, Mitchell Trubisky and Justin Fields, were not successful. Williams feared that with the history of the concession and the offensive performance of the head coach of the time, Matt Eberflus, Caleb Williams did not benefit from the necessary organizational support to succeed.
He also repeated to several agents in 2024 that he did not want his son to play for the Bears.
He would have notably asked for advice from Archie Manning, who helped his son Eli to assert a certain control over his possible team in 2004.
Williams would also have considered the option of asking his son to join the United Football League in the hope that he became an autonomous player without restriction and that he could choose his team in 2025.
Caleb Williams would have told his father that he “had to play for the Vikings du Minnesota” after a meeting with the leaders of the Bears section rivals during the physical tests for the 2024 draft.
“Let us make it happen,” replied his father. But Caleb and Carl knew very well that a transaction sending Chicago’s first choice to their Minnesota rivals was very improbable.
The Director General of the Bears Ryan Pole would have been firm, mentioning in Williams that he would select it “whatever happens”.
He of course held promise and Williams launched for 3541 with 20 affected and six interceptions while the Bears presented a 5-12 file in his first season in the NFL.
The book, which must be published in September will offer a detailed account of what it means to be a quarter-back at different levels, from secondary school to university via NFL, and what this represents for retired legends. He will take a new look at legendary players like John Elway, Johnny Unitas, Warren Moon, Steve Young and the members of the Manning family as well as on active players like Kirk Cousins and Drake Mayes.
