Caleb Williams is roughly a week away from joining the Chicago Bears, where he’s expected to become the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Most of the pre-draft evaluation process is no longer focused on Williams as scouts of teams turn their attention to other top NFL Draft quarterback prospects instead.
As for Williams, many expect he’ll immediately become a top favorite to win the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Some have even suggested the former USC QB has the best chance to become a Hall of Famer when his career wraps up.
But what about now? Where does Williams rank among his prospect peers ahead of the 2024 draft?
The Athletic recently polled eight NFL scouts, asking them to rank each of the top six quarterback draft prospects in terms of their intangibles. For the record, the six quarterbacks who were being graded include Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr., and Bo Nix.
When it came to ranking their intangibles, Michigan’s McCarthy came in first place, earning high remarks for his “football character.” But what some might be shocked to learn is that Williams came in dead last, ranking sixth out of six contestants when measuring a player’s intangibles.
Here were how scouts ranked each of the top quarterbacks’ intangibles.
- J.J. McCarthy (137.5 points)
- Jayden Daniels (136.5 points)
- Drake Maye (130.5 points)
- Michael Penix Jr. (128.5 points)
- Bo Nix (125.5 points)
- Caleb Williams (124 points)
Four of the eight scouts ranked Williams last, and three others ranked him second-to-last. Some of the ‘knocks’ on Williams were that he wasn’t consistently poised, while others questioned his toughness.
“Patrick (Mahomes) plays with so much poise,” Scout 6 says. “Caleb does it inconsistently.”
“I think his toughness has yet to be determined. He’s had a red-carpet runway experience at every stop and hasn’t had much to overcome.”
Naturally, Williams doesn’t agree with the notion that he didn’t face adversity in college, recently addressing these concerns head-on.
Let’s go back to school again 😂🤦🏽♂️cause I’m bored rn..
— Caleb Williams (@CALEBcsw) April 9, 2024
Adversity:
“A state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune.”
Y1. Didn’t start freshman year.
Y2. Popped hammy championship game 1st Q. Lost bc of my hammy.
Y3. 7-5 my last year of college ball. https://t.co/360cZjUGzD
While it’s alarming to see Williams come in last place in anything, we also have to remember that measuring a player’s intangibles is not an exact science. Unlike other analysis that uses data, grading a player on their intangibles often involves injecting personal opinion into the mix too, and the fact is, some scouts just haven’t gotten a close enough look at the player set to become the No. overall pick on April 25.
Related: 2024 NFL mock draft: Vikings snag QB, Jets get a steal in April’s first-round projections