When Ryan Poles drafted both Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze to the Chicago Bears, the goal was ambitious. Poles wanted to create the next Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow connection, a lethal duo that would lead the charge of a prolific offense for many years in Chicago. One of the bright spots of training camp for the Bears is that not only are Caleb Williams and Odunze are connecting a lot in practice, but their relationship is getting stronger.
Bears Wire writer Mike Pendleton unpacked Rome Odunze’s latest bold statement about quarterback Caleb Williams, featuring ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler’s coverage on the story:
“Both Williams and Odunze were both first round picks for the Bears last season, and both are key pieces to the team’s success for the foreseeable future, along with their new head coach. On Thursday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler appeared on ‘Get Up’ and revealed a bold claim from Odunze: Williams can be the best quarterback in the NFL.
“‘Rome Odunze told me that Caleb Williams can literally be the best quarterback in the NFL,’ Fowler said before giving his point of view of what he’s seen with the Bears so far. ‘He’s far away from that right now, Ben Johnson has been relentless on him with the details. They’re just trying to get him to do the basics right now and then they’ll work on the off-scripted plays, the mobility, all his strengths, that will come. Chicago Bears, elite quarterback play is an oxymoron. As far as the ability (of Williams), they see it, the players recognize it, they just have to get it out of him. They’re treating him like a rookie right now.’ While Odunze has high hopes for Williams, it’s clear that the Bears and the new coaching staff are going through a full rebuild of their young quarterback. Before Williams can approach “best quarterback in the NFL” territory, the Bears are just looking to get him to fix himself from a lost and disappointing rookie season, and the bad habits he may have picked up along the way.”
Rome Odunze is looking at quarterback Caleb Williams and knows he isn’t a finished product; there are many areas of his game that need to be refined. The big takeaway from this statement is that Rome Odunze believes Caleb can be special.
People in the building and in the locker room believe Caleb Williams can be exactly what he was drafted to be in Chicago. All it takes for teams to be successful is to believe in the guy in the locker room. If Caleb Williams feels he has all the right people believing in him, that is how Caleb can become the best quarterback in the NFL.
