Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American professional football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). Following one season of college football with the Oklahoma Sooners, he played for the USC Trojans and won the Heisman Trophy in 2022 after setting single-season school records in passing yards and touchdowns.

Williams was selected as the first overall pick by the Bears in the 2024 NFL draft, setting several franchise rookie passing records. The following year, he led Chicago to their first division title since 2018 and first playoff win since 2010.

Early life

Williams was born on November 18, 2001 in Washington, D.C., later attending Gonzaga College High School, where he played high school football. Williams is of Black and Native American descent. He is a member of the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe of Maryland. As a sophomore in 2018, Williams led Gonzaga to a WCAC Championship on a game winning Hail Mary pass as time expired. He was named Washington Post's All-Metropolitan 1st team and Washington, D.C. Gatorade Football Player of the Year after he passed for 2,624 passing yards with 26 touchdowns and rushed for 394 yards and 10 touchdowns. As a junior in 2019, Williams was named Washington Post's All-Metropolitan first team for the second consecutive year after throwing for 1,770 yards with 19 touchdowns and rushed for 838 yards with 18 touchdowns. He was named the Elite 11 finals MVP the following summer. In 2020, Williams's senior season was cancelled due to COVID-19. The highest-rated quarterback prospect of his class, Williams committed to play college football at the University of Oklahoma.

College career

Oklahoma

Williams entered his true freshman season with the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 as the backup to Spencer Rattler, before assuming the role as starting quarterback midway through the Sooners' rivalry game with the Texas Longhorns in the team's sixth game of the season. In that game, Oklahoma was down 35–17 before Williams replaced Rattler and led the Sooners to a 55–48 victory. He finished with 212 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, 88 yards rushing, and a rushing touchdown. Williams made his first start the following week, against Texas Christian University, and threw for 295 yards, four touchdowns, and rushed for 66 yards and a rushing touchdown as Oklahoma won 52–31. Williams finished his freshman year with 1,912 passing yards, 21 touchdowns, and four interceptions to go along with 79 carries for 442 yards and six touchdowns in seven games.

USC

2022 season

On January 3, 2022, Williams entered the transfer portal, and on February 1, he announced that he had transferred to the University of Southern California to play for the Trojans. This reunited Williams with head coach Lincoln Riley, who had been the head coach for the Sooners before being hired away by the Trojans the previous November. Williams was named the starter on August 25, and team captain six days later. In his first start against Rice, Williams completed 19 of 22 passes for 249 yards and two touchdowns as USC won 66–14. In their final game of the season, the Trojans were defeated by the Tulane Green Wave in the 2023 Cotton Bowl Classic. The final score was 45–46. Williams became the AP College Football Player of the Year, USC's first winner since Reggie Bush in 2005, and was named the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner. Williams finished the season with 4,537 passing yards for an NCAA-leading 42 touchdowns and five interceptions to go along with 113 carries for 382 yards and 10 touchdowns.

2023 season

Williams and the Trojans went 7–5 in 2023 during the regular season, throwing for 3,633 yards, 30 touchdowns, and five interceptions to go along with 142 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. He declared for the 2024 NFL draft following the season, finishing his college career throwing for over 10,000 yards with 120 total touchdowns.

As is the school's tradition for Heisman winners, Williams's number 13 was retired by USC in 2024.

College statistics

Professional career

NFL draft

Williams was widely projected to be one of the first players selected in the 2024 NFL draft and the top quarterback in the draft class. His improvisational abilities in college were touted by analysts as one of his biggest strengths, such as ESPN's draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. describing Williams as a "fabulous playmaker", though skepticism was levied at his smaller size and tendency to play "hero ball" to find a better play rather than a safer option. NFL.com draft writer Lance Zierlein and Bleacher Report's Derrik Klassen compared Williams' profile to Kyler Murray, while Fox Sports' Bucky Brooks and CBSSports.com drew parallels to Russell Wilson and Steve McNair.

The Chicago Bears selected Williams first overall in the draft. Chicago had received the pick after trading the previous year's first overall selection to the Carolina Panthers, and also acquired receiver D. J. Moore and several other picks in said trade. He was one of six quarterbacks taken in the first round, tied with the 1983 draft for the most in NFL history. As his college number 13 was taken by Keenan Allen, Williams switched to his high school number 18 in the NFL; the announcement was made less than half an hour after his draft selection. Williams' draft night merchandise sales value broke a Fanatics record.

2024 season

Williams was named the Bears' starter in May. On July 17, he signed his four-year rookie contract, worth $39.4 million fully guaranteed.

Williams was the first quarterback selected first overall to win their season-opening NFL debut since 2002, completing 14-of-29 passes for 93 yards with no touchdowns or turnovers in the 24–17 victory over the Tennessee Titans. Two weeks later, Williams recorded his first two career touchdowns and set the Bears' single-game rookie passing record with 363 yards in a 21–16 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. After a 1–2 start, Williams led victories over the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers, throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns against Carolina, becoming the first Bears rookie quarterback with multiple 300+ yard games. During Week 6 in London, Williams threw four touchdown passes in a 35–16 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, leading Chicago to their first three-game win streak since 2020 heading into the bye week.

During Week 8 against the Washington Commanders, Williams led a late go-ahead touchdown drive, but the Bears lost on a last-second Hail Mary pass, later dubbed the Hail Maryland. Chicago's struggles continued with back-to-back losses to the Arizona Cardinals and New England Patriots. The Bears offense failed to score a touchdown and Williams was sacked 15 times, marking the first time since 2004 that Chicago did not score a touchdown in consecutive games. Williams ended his four-game touchdown drought in a Week 12 30–27 overtime loss to the Minnesota Vikings, throwing for 340 yards, two touchdowns, and setting the Bears' rookie passing yards record. On Thanksgiving against the Detroit Lions on the road, Williams threw three touchdowns and set a rookie record for consecutive passes without an interception, but poor late-game clock management cost the Bears a chance at a comeback as they lost their sixth straight game, resulting in the firing of head coach Matt Eberflus the following day. Williams led a game-winning drive in the season finale to snap the Bears' ten-game losing streak and their 11-game skid to the Green Bay Packers, marking their first win against them since 2018; the victory also prevented Williams from tying Troy Aikman's record for the most consecutive games lost by a first-overall rookie quarterback.

Williams ended his rookie year with multiple Bears rookie passing records including completions, yards, and touchdown passes. He was also the first Bears quarterback to start every game in a season since Jay Cutler in 2009 despite being sacked a franchise-high 68 times, the third most in NFL history. Williams' streak of 354 passes without throwing an interception was the longest by a rookie and the fourth longest for all passers, a stretch that spanned a team- and NFL rookie-record nine games.

2025 season

On January 20, 2025, the Bears hired Ben Johnson as head coach. As the former offensive coordinator of the Lions, one of the major reasons for his hiring was to continue developing Williams as a quarterback.

Williams scored his first NFL rushing touchdown on the first drive of the season, though the Bears lost 27–24 to the Vikings. During a Week 3 31–14 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, whose defense was coached by Eberflus, Williams threw for 298 yards and four touchdowns, highlighted by a 65-yard flea flicker to Luther Burden III. Williams was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.