Albert Breer on Caleb Williams’s Ceiling, Can the Lions Bounce Back and Are the Texans Super Bowl Threat?

Chicago feels like it's in a really good place with its quarterback right now.

All right.

Welcome in to Support for Wednesday, August 10th.

I am now 15.

Camp visits and today will be number 15 for me.

I've already been to the Seahawks, the Cardinals, the Niners, the Cowboys, the Rams, the Chargers, the Raiders, the Broncos, the Chiefs, the Texans, the Lions, the Bengals, the Colts, the Bears, and today, I'll be visiting the Packers.

So we wanted to recap some of what I've taken from some of these visits and The first thing I wanted to address or cover here was the last camp that I was at, which was the Chicago Bears camp and kind of contrasting what I saw there last year versus what I saw there this year and how, what happened in between really colors it.

Now, you may remember last year, At this time, there was a lot of criticism of Caleb Williams, how he looked in camp, how I think at some point, Tyson Bagen, their young backup, looked better than Caleb and Ben Johnson's offense.

And there was a method to what Ben Johnson was doing at the time, and he would tell people, but not everybody was listening.

And the idea for Ben Johnson was, he's gonna feed Caleb Williams through a fire hose.

Give him volume, throw a lot at him, make it hard on him rather than trying to make it easy on him in May and June and July and August, to figure out what he could handle, to callous him a little bit to the coaching style, and then when the regular season came, they would have a lot to look at, just as far as what he could do and what he couldn't do in the offense, and then they could build a scheme around him that way.

And even the stuff he couldn't do, he would then have some experience to draw on with that stuff that might help him in the future.

We all know the result.

The Bears wind up winning the division, the Bears wind up advancing around in the playoffs, beating the Packers in the wild card round, going toe to toe on an ice cold night in Chicago against the Los Angeles Rams team that then would challenge the Seahawks in a way that no one else did in the playoffs.

And so, You saw what the teaching progression of May and June and July and August of 2026 wound up producing in the months of September, October, November, December, and ultimately, January.

And so, what Caleb Williams has right now is proof of concept.

And where it got hard last year and he had to trust, he doesn't need to do that as much anymore because he knows that it works.

And what the Bears have noticed is an increased level of professionalism, an increased level of focus, and there's a joy in the way that he's leading this offseason.

And really what that means as far as they see it is they see his personality melding into Ben Johnson's program.

And what Ben Johnson and Ryan Pauls have been trying to build there over the last 18 months.

And that's allowing him to be himself, both as a player and as a person, and they're able to build now on what was a pretty successful foundation last year, and maybe sprinkle in some more of the things that they weren't able to do um at at quite as high a level last year, and now you look at what's around them, and you have Romaanze coming back with another year of experience.

You have Luther Burton, who's a little nicked up right now, but it'll be regular, ready for the regular season, who has ascended through the offseason.

The tight end position, they believe Colson Loveland's ready for a breakout .

The offensive line still has to work out the left tackle position, but there's really the basis of an offense that's versatile and can do a lot of things, especially with the tight end room, not just Loveland, but also Cole Kamet and the rookie Sam Rausch, um, and they really feel like Caleb Williams is going into the season a more confident player.

And the thing that stuck out to me just watching him move, watching him throw yesterday.

Is Everything looks much easier for him.

Everything looks more natural, everything looks like he's just going out and playing.

So, what does that mean?

Well, it'd be hard to match what they did last year, um, and.

Obviously, there were a number of teams that broke out last year under first-year coaches, New England, Jacksonville, and Chicago.

Um, there's always the chance that what happened to Washington last year or the injury luck swings, the schedule is tougher, and the record flips, that that's always possible.

But Chicago feels like it's in a really good place with its quarterback right now.

If they can just maintain some health, get some guys back healthy, you know, lose their burden on offense, you know, they hope to have Kobe Bryant back on defense in October, and they can really build on what they did last year and again, that goes in particular for the quarterback.

Um, all right, the second topic here.

My visit to the Detroit Lions, um, came on the day that, that Jamir Gibbs agreed to a 3-year 6 $67.

5 million dollar extension with the team.

That'll keep him with the Lions or at least give the Lions control over him through the 2030 season, and to me, it underscores the job that they've done roster building there.

And I think as people look at the Lions having taken a step back in 2025 and talk about how maybe a windows closed , they aren't really looking at the roster.

And if you look at Gibbs, he's just the latest example of draft develop.

Invest in And build around, and they've got so many guys who fit into that category.

Pena Sewell, 6th pick in the draft, they double down on him.

Aman Ra Saint Brown, 4th round pick, they double down on him.

Aiden Hutchinson, Jamison Williams, Kirby Joseph.

Jamir Gibbs now, Jack Campbell, Ali McNeil, there are so many examples of guys that they have drafted and developed and now have as foundation pieces, and that's one of the things that really, to me stands out about the Lions.

You have Jared Goff back as an experienced quarterback.

I think he's gonna have a really big year.

You have the offensive line that's been invested back into, right?

So they bring in Cade Mays from Carolina to play center.

They got caught a little flat-footed last.

Last year, the retirement of Frank Rag now, they invest back in the center position.

They got a second-round pick from 2025 at guard they really like in Tate Ratledge.

They spent their first-round pick this year on Blake Miller to play right tackle with Pene Sewell flipping over to left tackle, and then all of that talent, right?

Like, and even some of the guys I didn't mention, Sam LaPorta is a part of their future.

They haven't signed him yet.

Brian Branch, same thing.

The hope is that they can get him back at some point early in the season.

You look at all the talent and all the foundation pieces and just talking to people there, where they felt like things slipped a little last year, it was.

Let's find a way to pass the torch to the players who are here for the building of the program and the people who are here for the laying of the foundation and where they went from from 21 to 22 to 23 when they went to the NFC championship game to 24 when they won 15 games .

There's a lot of good still in Detroit.

There's a good reason why they were able to ascend over a four-year period.

That little backslide last year, I don't think is indicative of where that place is and the way they've built.

And again, like as I see it going into this year, and I think there's a lot of people in that building see it, that young foundation that they were able to draft and develop and now invest in.

is capable of winning a championship.

And I think there's a really good chance they wind up winning the NFC North.

I think they are a very real Super Bowl contender.

I think Jared Goff is criminally underrated as a quarterback, and I think that young core that is guys now going into year 3, year 4, year 5, year 6.

That group remains, I think, a solid a foundation, um, as you'll find in the NFL.

Finally, uh, the third topic that I wanted to hit today, the Houston Texans, and to me, this is such a fascinating case cause I look at where the Texans are.

And Damio Ryans, when he came in in 2023.

He instilled something in his defense that was almost instant.

And part of it was you draft Will Anderson, you, you, you bring in Daniel Hunter, you, you've got guys on the defensive side of the ball that kind of fit the mentality that you're looking to build, Derrick Stanley, Jalen Petrie, uh, there were a lot of those types of guys already there or that were drafted that first year, so they were able to instill right away.

The sort of ethos that they were looking for, edgy, tough, they use the word swarm, that's what they were looking for, um, on the defensive side of the ball, and really that's what they've been looking for across the board.

23, they have a great first year.

CJ Stroud kills it as a rookie starting at quarterback, and then since the offense has backslid a little bit.

Now, in 24.

Really, the offensive line room became a problem.

There was a culture issue in the room.

It's part of why they traded Laremy Tunsil after the year, and it was gonna take time to rebuild it.

And as they rebuilt the line group , they wanted to rebuild the offense.

And again, what they were looking for was to match the ethos that they had already built on defense.

So now where are they?

Well, they go and they bring in David Montgomery from that Detroit Lions team to, to, to be the centerpiece of the run game.

And then on the offensive line, they bring in Wyatt Teller, who, you know, can be one of the guys that can give him that brawler mentality.

And then I think this one is really interesting as they draft Keyan Rutledge out of Georgia Tech.

And through the spring, he was a guy that was, I mean, starting fights with defensive linemen, I mean, as a rookie, like being willing to take on guys on that Texans defense in that way.

Um , and he's brought, even as a rookie, a nastiness, an edge to the offensive line and an offensive group.

And so, when I was there, the day I was there, a lot of the offensive coaches, even some of the defensive guys were talking about how to that point, the offense had really learned to stand up to the defense and to a degree up to that point.

It had been sort of a standstill between the two.

So then I talked to some more people who are like, this is the day the defense probably gets back.

It was a heavy 11 on 11 day, and of course the defense won.

I talked to Will Anderson after the practice, and he said to me , he was like, yeah, like they have been punching back, they have embodied again what he referred to as swarm, and they now have the sort of edge that we've always had on defense.

And so he was encouraged by that.

And then he said, yeah, we wanted to get him back today, and they did get him back.

If they can have an offense that can consistently stand up to that defense in practice, and I think that this is really gonna help, having had to go through this and having had to play against that defensive, that defensive group in training camp.

If the Texans can do that, put that together and CJ Stroud can translate what's been a consistent, a steady offseason.

Into the regular season.

And they can be maybe the 14th best offensive football, the 12th best offensive football, and again, that offensive line group comes together with Ariante Ursy going into his 2nd year and Keelan Rutledge at guard and Wyatt Taylor guard and Braden Smith coming over from the Colts, um, at tackle, and then at the receiver spot, you know, if, if, if, if, if all of a sudden now Jaden Higgins takes his great offseason and translates to the regular season and now they got the Twin Towers on the outside with Higgins and Nico Collins.

Uh, you match that again, a real, a good offense, not you don't need to be a great offense, a good offense.

You match that with the defense.

Um, then I think Texas become a very real Super Bowl contender.

Appreciate you guys coming out.

Appreciate you guys consuming all of our content from here on the road again .

I'm in, I'm in Green Bay right now.

We'll, we'll be with the Packers today.

Um, and as always, if you want more, we got more trips to go.

I got 4 stops this week before I go home.

Then I'll be going out again next week and probably the week after that.

Anything you guys are looking for from me, you can leave it down below in the comments, or you can get to me on my social media at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert R.

Breer on Facebook, at Albert_Breer on Instagram.

Appreciate you guys coming out.

We will see you next time.