Bear Digest

Where Caleb Williams Sits in First NFL QB Rankings

Analysis: Early QB rankings are coming out and include those who haven't played a down in the NFL, such as Bears No. 1 draft pick overall Caleb Williams.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams starts out well down the list in the first of the major preseason quarterback rankings to come out for 2024.
Caleb Williams starts out well down the list in the first of the major preseason quarterback rankings to come out for 2024. / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
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It's that time of year again, at least the beginning of it.

Quarterback ranking season has begun and the analyst best known for quarterback rankings, NBC's Chris Simms, is about to embark upon his ratings but first went through an explanation of how he does this.

A few others have begun to trickle out. Pro Football Network had a ranking come out the same day the draft ended, which seems a bit premature. The Athletic has a unique look at the QBs, as well.

However, the first full ranking from a major website is now out from CBS Sports and Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams did not crack the top 20. He had been 20th on the PFN ratings.

Williams is ranked 23rd by CBS Sports. That's a good number in Chicago sports but probably not for quarterback rankings.

Cody Benjamin was responsible for the rankings and acknowledges immediately the rookie status makes for difficult rankings.

However, he steps in it right out the door.

"Any and every rookie is a projection, even the No. 1 overall pick," Benjamin said. "But Williams actually has a quality supporting cast out of the gate, unlike Justin Fields before him."

Justin Fields had a better supporting cast last year and there was no grand conspiracy to keep Fields from having a good offense. This is a total misnomer. Ryan Poles had a choice to make. He's building a football team and not a passing game alone. He had to totally rebuild a franchise from the ground up, even below ground, with no first-, third- or fourth-round pick in Year 1, and in Year 2 he had to do something about the defense first when they had money and draft picks because in 2022 they were looking a lot like the Marc Trestman era.

The offensive help was going to come this year no matter what and there's no sense whining about it for Fields' sake or the sake of his fans. He's not here because he proved without doubt to Poles and Matt Eberflus that he isn't going to be as good of a passer as Williams will be. It's that simple. It has nothing to do with his support in the past.

If you want to blame past efforts at supporting Fields, then blame Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy. Neither one are around Chicago now so there isn't much use trotting this one out of the vault, either.

What matters is where Williams starts. There has to be a starting point and Benjamin says it's No. 23.

He's one spot ahead of Colts QB Anthony Richardson, who played four games last year before a season-ending injury. He is two ahead of JJ McCarthy and three ahead of Derek Carr. Jayden Daniels, picked second behind Williams in the draft, is 28th.

Brock Purdy is ranked higher than every quarterback except Patrick Mahomes.

Aaron Rodgers is ranked 11th at age 40 for this season, one spot behind the player who replaced him in Green Bay, Jordan Love.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain

GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.