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High Value Ranking Says Caleb Williams Is No QB's 'Little Bro' Now

One rating puts Williams among the elite on first-year contracts, which means he climbed past many of those rated ahead of him only a year ago.
Gene Chamberlain|
The so-called "little bro" moment after Caleb Williams lost his second NFL game to Houston and C.J. Stroud.
The so-called "little bro" moment after Caleb Williams lost his second NFL game to Houston and C.J. Stroud. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The idyllic situation for NFL teams is the quarterback on his first contract winning a Super Bowl.

It's not like this is common, of course. The only recent example is Patrick Mahomes but Drake Maye got within one win of it last year.

As CBS Sports' Jared Dubin wrote, "The high price of veteran QBs puts a team ahead of the game when it happens."

The reason should be obvious.

"The passers still on their rookie contracts also afford their teams the opportunity to spend big on the infrastructure around them," Dubin added.

For this reason, the Bears remain ahead of the game but the clock is ticking, and Caleb Williams' first wasted season with a poor coaching staff makes it less likely it could happen for the Bears. He does have help now, though, in Ben Johnson and a surrounding offensive cast more suited to scheme.

In fact, Williams is so well situated now going into Year 3 that NFL.com Around The NFL writer Nick Shook has him rated as the second-best quarterback on a rookie contract. This ranking puts Williams ahead of Jayden Daniels only a year after everyone had written Williams off as overrated and some even said the Bears made a big mistake by not taking Daniel first overall. Not that many could claim to have said this ahead of the 2024 draft, and only they have the right to say something like this without being called out or hind-sighting.

Williams is even ranked ahead of Bo Nix, whose accuracy has led many to place him near or at the top of the league's young guns rankings.

"Under Johnson, Williams was able to display his natural talents and begin to justify his No. 1 overall selection," Shook wrote.

Shook really doled out the compliments for the Iceman.

"By season's end, he was one of my favorite quarterbacks to watch," Shook wrote. "I expect him to meet that description again in 2026, the last year before he is eligible for an extension that should make his paycheck exponentially bigger."

Irony of ironies

The really ironic aspect of these rankings is Williams ranks three spots ahead of fourth-year QB C.J. Stroud, who is eligible for having his fifth-year contract extended but still is waiting. In fact, the Texans just gave a bigger contract to edge rusher Will Anderson Jr., who was drafted one place behind Stroud by the Texans when the two went 2-3 overall in 2023.

It's ironic in relation to Williams because the Bears QB was the one Stroud chose to "little Bro," with some postgame words after Williams lost to the Texans in only his second NFL game in 2024.

While all of this is great from Williams' standpoint, what isn't clear is whether the Bears have supported him with the infrastructure mentioned by Dubin in his CBS article. The infrastructure includes both offense and defense. A young quarterback is vulnerable if he's forced to carry the team all of the time and the Bears' defense last year was good only for takeaways and not much else.

Nothing much appears improved after the draft in that regard beyond their speed, as they're still shorthanded in pass rush and run-stopping ability.

It's on the Bears to realize what they have in Williams and provide the support to give him a shot at doing what Maye nearly did last year. It might take a few more contracts restructured and one veteran free agent edge rusher signing to do it.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

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.

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