{"id":114616,"date":"2024-04-24T01:57:25","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T01:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/?p=114616"},"modified":"2024-04-24T01:57:35","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T01:57:35","slug":"bears-go-way-off-script-in-pre-draft-meeting-with-caleb-williams-nguyensa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/bears-go-way-off-script-in-pre-draft-meeting-with-caleb-williams-nguyensa\/","title":{"rendered":"Bears Go Way Off Script in Pre-Draft Meeting With Caleb Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1776463051-e1713836421950.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" alt=\"Caleb Williams, USC\" width=\"780\" height=\"437\" data-img-load-time=\"103\" data-dom-ready-time=\"122\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Getty\u00a0Quarterback Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Chicago Bears\u00a0are on the cusp of drafting a difference-maker at quarterback with the No. 1 pick, so it would make sense the franchise handles its courtship of him differently.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Schefter of ESPN reported\u00a0on Monday, April 22 that Bears brass opted to send QB\u00a0Caleb Williams\u00a0\u2014 the prospective first overall selection in this week\u2019s NFL draft \u2014 out to dinner with top members of the roster rather than top members of the front office and coaching staff. While that approach is far from common practice in the league, Chicago\u2019s reasoning behind the decision was simple and clear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen Caleb Williams\u00a0visited Chicago\u00a0in early April, the\u00a0Bears did something smart,\u201d Schefter wrote. \u201cRather than have Williams go to dinner with their front office and coaches, they sent him to dinner with team leaders\u00a0Cole Kmet,\u00a0DJ Moore,\u00a0T.J. Edwards\u00a0and others. The thinking was, those are some of the team\u2019s most respected players, the players whom others listen to, and this group then would be able to tell the other players what they were getting in Williams, who is likely to be the No. 1 overall pick.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Jaylon Johnson\u2019s Comments on Caleb Williams May Have Influenced Bears\u2019 Decision on Meeting With Players<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_4600824\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1440305353-e1700018261936.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" alt=\"Jaylon Johnson, Bears\" width=\"782\" height=\"439\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4600824\" data-lazy-load=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-1440305353-e1700018261936.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-4600824\">GettyCornerback Jaylon Johnson of the Chicago Bears.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>General manager\u00a0Ryan Poles\u2018 decision may well have been related to a controversy that popped up in March, after cornerback\u00a0Jaylon Johnson\u00a0talked about the \u201cHollywood stuff\u201d he hoped Williams would leave behind him if and when he entered Chicago\u2019s locker room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou just humble yourself coming into the building. It\u2019s one of those things where you can\u2019t bring that Hollywood stuff into the building \u2014 especially not with guys who have played this game at a high level for consecutive years in the league,\u201d Johnson said during an episode of \u201cUp &amp; Adams with Kay Adams\u201d that aired in March. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see through it. It\u2019s like, \u2018Nah. What you did in college? The Hollywood? Nah. You\u2019ve got to prove yourself. That stuff doesn\u2019t matter.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Bears GM addressed Johnson\u2019s comments during an interview with\u00a0Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune, which published on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat Hollywood thing? Like, [Williams] lives in Hollywood right now. He\u2019s only been there for two years, and he has some really cool things going on,\u201d Poles said. \u201cHe took advantage of his NIL thing to set himself up business-wise. And he\u2019s going to do really well in his life because of it. \u2026 But he\u2019s very low-key. He\u2019s not a spotlight guy. He tries to move under the radar.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Caleb Williams Has Big Shoes to Fill in Bears Locker Room Following Departure of Justin Fields<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_4928879\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1801043016-e1711114542473.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" alt=\"Caleb Williams\" width=\"782\" height=\"441\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4928879\" data-lazy-load=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/GettyImages-1801043016-e1711114542473.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=782\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-4928879\">GettyQuarterback Caleb Williams, formerly of USC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Should he ultimately land in Chicago, Williams may have some work to do winning over a locker room that was fond of three-year starter\u00a0Justin Fields\u00a0before Poles and company traded him to the\u00a0Pittsburgh Steelers\u00a0earlier in the offseason.<\/p>\n<p>Fields was a prolific rusher of the football from the position, though never a great passer. That said, the team improved meaningfully down the stretch last season and finished the year\u00a07-10\u00a0with legitimate bright spots upon which to build on both the offensive and defensive sides of the football.<\/p>\n<p>There were some calls in Chicago from fans and players, Moore in particular, for the team to bring Fields back in 2024. The team will clearly go in another direction now after trading Fields, and Williams is likely to be their player of choice at No. 1 overall.<\/p>\n<p>But if Williams ends up the player Poles thinks he is, it shouldn\u2019t be too long before he\u2019s won over the organization \u2014 front office, coaching staff and locker room all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty\u00a0Quarterback Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans. The\u00a0Chicago Bears\u00a0are on the cusp of drafting a difference-maker at quarterback with the No. 1 pick, so it would make&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":114653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114616"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114654,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114616\/revisions\/114654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mlbhi.aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}