Studying the Hall of Famers: How Caleb Williams can make the year-two leap

Listen, Caleb Williams had a darn good rookie season.

No, the quarterback out of USC wasn’t Jayden Daniels. No, he couldn’t drag the Chicago Bears to the playoffs. And no, he didn’t earn any postseason accolades. But all things considered—problematic O-line, mediocre running game, sideline turmoil, no production from the tight end position—he did himself proud.

But he can do better. Much better. And he would 1000% agree, saying:

“I knew there was a lot I was going to have to learn in a fast amount of time. There’s still a tremendous amount, and I’m really excited about that. [It will be helpful] to be able to have the time to go back and look at myself and look at the other QBs the way they’ve done it, and then sit down and get in the books and learn some of those things that I didn’t know throughout the year, and some of the things I really want to know by next year.”

Translated: If you’re going to be the best, learn from the best. So here’s who the soon-to-be-sophomore can study to improve in his areas of need:

FOOTWORK

Williams was sacked 68 times, and while the offensive line gets most of the blame, the former Heisman Trophy winner has to accept some responsibility.

When attempting to slip the rush, he had a frustrating tendency to tip-toe backwards, knees bent, body squared forward, leaving himself vulnerable to the Aiden Hutchinsons of the world.

Who To Study: Dan Marino was a wizard at sack avoidance, and he didn’t have anything close to Williams’ mobility.

ACCURACY

Again, some of this falls on the offensive line, in that it’s hard to be accurate when you have 16 Minnesota Vikings up in your grill just 2.3 seconds after the ball is snapped.

Given time, Williams has the skill set to throw a watermelon seed through a straw from 15 yards. Not given time, he’ll overthrow Rome Odunze by 15 miles.

Who To Study: Drew Brees wrapped up his career with a completion percentage of 67.7%. Nobody did it better.

POCKET AWARENESS

It’s hard to get a gauge on this one, as poor Caleb rarely had more than a small handful clean pockets each week, but he has the athleticism to sneak away from anybody—he just needs to figure out how and when to properly sneak.

Who To Study: Peyton Manning was one of the least athletic modern quarterbacks—something he’ll gleefully acknowledge—but his savvy (and footwork) was such that he was sacked less than 20 times in 11 of his 17 seasons.

PROCESSING SPEED

Some of Williams’ sacks could have been avoided had he been a scootch quicker in hurling the rock into the fifth row. A loss of a down is way better than a loss of 13 yards.

Who To Study: Marino, and it’s not even close. Dan the Man was a big dude—he was listed at 227 for most of his career, but he was 227 like Luka Doncic is 227—but his brain and arm were lightning-quick. That’s innate to an extent, but Williams could still get a whole lot out of the tape.

DEMEANOR

Caleb Williams is a fantastic young man—classy, quotable, eager to please—but his periodic sideline pouting wasn’t a great look. (Granted, all of us pouted more than he did during Bears games, and we were sitting on our sofas. But he gets paid way more than we do.)

Who To Study: Roger Staubach. The Dallas Cowboys great never frowned. Granted, he never smiled either, but his unflappability led to a couple of Super Bowl rings, so if Caleb dials it down just half a notch, the sky is the limit.