Payton had 'doubts' Caleb Williams would succeed in the NFL
"Per Wickersham, Payton "loved" Williams's arm at USC, but "worried a little about his processing speed" and saw "too many easy completions left on the field, open receivers that Williams fails to spot quickly." Payton has a formula that weighs negative plays, which Williams had a higher number on than either Nix or No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels. Additionally, Wickersham detailed that Payton questioned how Williams would handle failure."
I despise this guy (Payton), but he might very well be right in his pre-Draft assessment of Caleb Williams. He also appears spot-on in his assessment of Bo Nix, who seems to be killing it physically and mentally on the field. There's more than one way to skin a cat as a successful QB type in the NFL, but some of those required traits are shared. And it sure doesn't seem like Caleb has those traits....and a big one is handling failure and moving on to the next play. We've seen William's frustrated hissy fits already. Stay tuned in Chicago.
JR44 wrote:I think you mentioned you watched a bunch of Caleb's games, correct? Probably some good insight there. He's got the team around him now too, so he needs to take that nice leap forward in 2025 to maintain trust with the coaches.
I watched every snap he took at USC and yes, there were a lot of times he didn't get the ball to open WRs, but what Payton fails to mention is it was because he played behind one of the worst offensive lines, was often scrambling right from the moment of the snap, had no time to throw and was forced to improvise and make many throws on the run. Never saw a college QB take such a pounding and yet he bounced up every time and never got down, which is why I laugh at some who question his mental toughness. If the Broncos had the number one pick, Williams still would have been the number one pick. Payton is a complete tool, wouldn't waste my time on anything he has to say.
Yikes. From today's Bears-Bills scrimmage:
SI.com: [b]Bears Could Be Running Out of Time Trying to Fix QB Caleb Williams [/b]The former No. 1 pick continues to struggle under Ben Johnson.
https://www.si.com/nfl/bears-trying-to-fix-caleb-williams-training-camp
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — "Ben Johnson has 23 days to clean up his offense. On Friday at Halas Hall outside Chicago, the Bears welcomed the Bills for a joint practice in the sweltering Midwestern heat. [b]Other than the patrons watching, the thing melting quickest was the belief Chicago had suddenly found a bona fide attack behind quarterback Caleb Williams and its rookie head coach, Johnson."[/b] - Matt Verderame SI.com
[img]https://i.makeagif.com/media/6-03-2016/bV7FvV.gif[/img]
purplefaithful wrote:Agreed, its too early but at the same time early signs are troublesome for Chicago. Like I said before, the media is usually one of two things: too pollyanna or too harsh. IMO the problem is mentally he's not the toughest and he's emotional, so any frustrations or learning moments might linger or derail him. We'll see. I would agree there's a bit of piling on with him and the media currently.
Its going to take time for Caleb (and that entirely re-vampled IOL) to gel and get used to a new system...I wouldnt panic (yet) if I were a bears fan. Media is throwing lots of gas on the fires right now.
[img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GzcRbdGXwAAgC1t?format=png&name=large[/img]Oh boy.
mblack wrote:I get that. But I get that for the O-line as well. Feel good about it, but really need to see it too.
In as much as I agree I remember many times where our D was supposed to fluster and make young or bad QBs miserable but our defense instead got carved out or was non existent. So given it is game one and a HUGE game for both teams, I'll just wait and see what happens.
Edit Post (mod action — author will see a notice)
Warn Poster
Suspend User (3 days)
The user will be suspended for 3 days and will receive an email with the reason and information about how to appeal.