Caleb Williams at the NFL Combine on Chicago, Washington and his willingness to compete
USC quarterback Caleb Williams isn’t going to do much at the NFL Combine this week as he won’t do any testing, measurements or quarterback drills. But he was put to work on Friday morning as the assembled media was ready to pounce when he stepped onto the podium and up to the microphone.
Someone wasted no time in attacking Williams’ decision not to throw or do any testing at the Combine, yelling, “Are you afraid to compete?” before Williams had even greeted the media. The ridiculous “question” continued: “How do you respond to people saying that you’re worried to be compared side-by-side to your peers in medicals, measurements and workouts? Are you afraid to be measured against those guys one-on-one? Is that why you’re not doing things.”
Williams, as expected, didn’t bite.
“No,” Williams said. “Not doing things, it was a decision by me, my team, my family and it comes down to that.”
Williams spoke with ProFootballTalk later in the day and was asked what led to the decision not to do any medical testing at the Combine. It’s believed that Williams is the first draft prospect to ever elect not to do medical testing there.
“It was a decision with my family and my team and it really came down to, not all 32 teams can draft me, so why give all 32 teams my personal, medical things,” Williams said. “There’s nothing there. I played all 30-however many games I played. I never came off the field unless my helmet came off and the refs took me off. My thing has just been give it to the teams that are going to pursue me.”
Williams said he will do “medicals” on his visits with teams, but decided not to do it at the Combine.
Williams is unlikely to take a ton of top-30 visits during this process. He’ll certainly spend plenty of time with the Chicago Bears, and the Washington Commanders could be heavily involved as well.
Williams got a chance to meet with Chicago at the Combine.
“It was good,” Williams said. “It was really nice. They were mainly testing me on my mental, seeing how I would handle things. Putting a play on the board and then ten minutes later, 15 minutes later, asking me to recall it. It was a good meeting.”
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Williams was also asked about potentially playing in Washington D.C., where he grew up.
“It’s familiar,” he said. “It’s hometown as everybody knows. It’d be really cool to be back there and experience that. The meeting went really well. Everybody was in the room, so being around everybody, just getting a taste of how they are, who they are, because everything is new there.”
Ultimately, Williams said it doesn’t matter what team picks him. His only preference would be when he hears his name on draft night.
“Whoever picks first,” Williams said when asked where he wants to play in the NFL. “It’s been a dream of mine to go first and so, whoever picks first…can’t wait.”
Williams said he will throw at USC’s Pro Day on March 20. But like a number of top quarterback prospects over the years, he won’t do it at the Combine.
“I didnt feel the need to go out and throw,” Williams said. “I played about 30-something games I believe, go ahead and go watch real, live ball with me and see how I am as a competitor.”
