Bruce Feldman addresses chances Lincoln Riley is courted alongside Caleb Williams' landing spot

Could Lincoln Riley follow Caleb Williams to the NFL to whomever has the No. 1 overall pick next spring?

It’s certainly possible according to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman. But Riley’s given no indication he’ll hop to the pro level and leave USC.

Feldman explained during a recent appearance on the Rich Eisen Show.

“I think at some point down the road, I think he will coach in the NFL,” Feldman said. “That’s my own (take). You know, he’s never told me that but that’s my guess because I think he’s a guy who I think is obsessive when it comes to like, x’s and o’s and kind of stuff. And I think you see that translate in, in a lot of guys. Whether it’s Mike McDaniel, or Shanahan or McVay, a bunch of guys, where I think he would be like, let’s see how this is gonna work now. 

“But the one I wondered about was, you know who’s on that staff right now is Kliff Kingsbury. And Kliff obviously has had a lot of great quarterbacks, he had Patrick Mahomes. Now he’s working or helping work with Caleb, if you’re an NFL team, do you look and say, Alright, I know it didn’t go great with the Cardinals. It wasn’t a disaster.”

Riley’s been the white whale, if you will, for NFL teams it seems. Despite his lack of a national championship, Riley is exactly what the NFL covets right now.

The USC head coach seems to be a genius and a wizard when it comes to coaching quarterbacks and scheming a high powered offense. Make no mistake, USC and Oklahoma before that were on fire offensively each year of his career.

Riley also coached Heisman Trophy winners Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Williams. Right now, Williams is the projected No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NFL Draft.

Whatever team that is, could there be a handshake deal in place to hire Riley with the promise of drafting Williams with the first pick?

Feldman doesn’t think, at least not necessarily. There was a lot of discussion about the Chicago Bears having the top pick, at least before the team’s Thursday night win.

A total restart with Riley and Williams seems enticing on paper. But with the way Riley succeeds at the collegiate level, it’d have to be quite the situation to jump to the pros to follow his current quarterback.