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Two Months Later Merril Hoge Still Down on Caleb Williams
Analysis: Two months ago at the Super Bowl Merril Hoge warned the Bears against taking Caleb Williams, and he's still at it.
With the mad rush being predicted for teams to get into early Round 1 draft position to take a quarterback on April 25, there remains one contrarian, skeptical voice out there.
He's well known to Bears fans after playing in Chicago briefly but not because he did. He's Merrill Hoge and he's known for being Mikey.
Mikey was a kid in the 1970s Quaker Life Cereal TV commercials who hated everything. Hoge dislikes all the quarterbacks in this draft, or at least the ones everyone else likes.
He dislikes Jayden Daniels a little less than most.
"You actually see a kid that I think has the best skill set, the best total skill set to transition to the NFL of all the guys that we have," Hoge said of Daniels.
This is probably strange to some reading it as they expected it to be Caleb Williams. After all, the Bears traded Justin Fields because they're planning to draft Williams first. But as anyone who has followed it is aware, Hoge thinks Williams is terrible and a wasted draft pick waiting to happen.
Hoge more or less said this on a few interviews he did during Super Bowl week on radio row.
Guess what? He's back.
Speaking on KOA sports radio in Denver with Dave Logan, Big Al and Ryan Edwards, Hoge showed he has gained no more appreciation for the expected No. 1 pick in this draft over the past two months.
"Just because he runs around, he's exciting—which is not a skill set by the way—does not mean you can play in the NFL," Hoge said. "And just because he is extremely elite (in college) does not mean he's going to play in the National Football League.
"From how you have to play in the NFL and how he has played, he has a massive learning curve and that is not going to be easy."
Hoge maintains Williams will not be able to play within structure well enough to be consistent and succeed, among other issues. Too many of his big plays come from extended plays, outside the playbook, says Hoge.
"That's how you win is through structure," Hoge said. "There's a reason coaches design plays, create offenses and everybody has a job to do. OK, if it was just, 'hey, make a play on two,' that's what you would do. That hurdle will be his biggest hurdle.
"His biggest challenge will be his ability to function in a pocket, dirty and clean and process things, and throw with his accuracy that he has. That is a daunting task for him because he has won a Heisman Trophy doing it another way. He never has really done it from the pocket. He never has displayed that he's done it from a pocket. And that will be a learning curve for him."
Hoge did give Williams credit for being accurate with his passes. He called the accuracy "elite."
A near compliment was directed Williams' way for processing plays.
"His processing is just OK," Hoge said.
At least that's a compliment coming from Hoge.
"There's going to be a lot of traffic around them," he said of the in-coming QBs in general. "There's going to be pressure on them that they don't experience in college. And how do you function in that environment, because that is ultimately how you're going to have to perform in the NFL? And with a clean pocket or a dirty pocket he is very average. His processing is average.
"Now, he is elusive. He might be more elusive than Patrick Mahomes. Deos that mean he's better than Patrick Mahomes? Absolutely not. His elusiveness is actually, it's rare. I's unique. However, it's reckless, too. I mean, I can’t tell you how many times that ball has been on the ground (16 career fumbles). He doesn't protect the ball."
Hoge went on to bash Williams for a perceived lack of mental toughness, his height, and saved a shot at the Bears, too.
The TV and internet highlights are what Hoge says have conditioned us all to think Williams is something he is not.
Near the end of his diatribe on Williams, Hoge goes off on a tangent comparing Williams to Mahomes even though this wasn't necessarily asked.
"Because listen, he's not going to a playoff team," Hoge said. "He's not going to some of the greatest coaches in NFL history. He's not going to go and sit there for a year and he's not going to go and have a great mentor. OK, those are all things Patrick Mahomes has."
So apparently there is Patrick Mahomes, and then every other QB in the NFL is a loser, except C.J. Stroud, who he Hoge says he loved from Day 1.
And then there was this from Hoge: "I don't know how tough he is mentally, either. I don't know if he is a self-anointed punk."
It's all enough negativity to make you think Williams is the new Ryan Leaf or Johnny Manziel.
But the source must be considered. It is Hoge, and he once said he liked Brian Brohm (52 career passes, 2 seasons, 5 INT, 0 TD) better than Aaron Rodgers in the draft.
If Hoge had said anything more flattering about Williams, it might have been shocking.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
