Getty Caleb Williams #13 of the USC Trojans warms up prior to the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Notre Dame Stadium on October 14, 2023 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
The Chicago Bears will attend the pro days of all four of the top quarterback prospects in the 2024 NFL draft class, but general manager Ryan Poles will not be there himself when Drake Maye throws in North Carolina this week.
Despite growing speculation they will draft USC’s Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick, the Bears have been committed to doing their due diligence on the other quarterback prospects in the incoming class. Poles and several Bears representatives flew to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to watch J.J. McCarthy throw just two days after Williams’ workout.
Poles also told reporters on March 25 that he is heading directly from the annual league meetings in Florida this week to Louisiana on March 27 to attend LSU’s pro day, where quarterback and 2023 Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels is a main draw.
“We’re going to continue the process,” Poles said of scouting the other quarterbacks. “We’re going to go to LSU right from here, we’ll continue to evaluate everybody. I do think, as I said before, we gain clarity as we move forward, which is a good thing, but we also want to make sure we continue and finish the process with the rest of the class.”
Interestingly, though, Poles added that he “can’t make” UNC’s pro day on March 28 and will instead head back to Chicago from Louisiana, leaving the in-person evaluation of Maye to several of his executives and newly hired quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph.
Will Bears Bring in Drake Maye for Top-30 Visit?
Maye is the No. 2 quarterback prospect on Daniel Jeremiah’s draft rankings, so it is a little odd that Poles is not personally going to talk to him and watch him throw. Still, there are a few logical reasons that could explain why he is skipping UNC’s showcase.
One possible explanation is that the Bears want to host Maye for a top-30 visit to Halas Hall in the coming weeks. At this point, no reports have emerged indicating the Bears plan to bring in Maye for an official visit, but Poles would have less of a reason to attend his workout in Chapel Hill if he knew there would be another time to get to know him.
Poles might also believe his time is better spent preparing for the next phase of the NFL draft scouting process. With college pro days mostly concluding this week, teams must figure out which 30 prospects they want to invite to their facilities for official pre-draft visits. Reports have confirmed the Bears already have a handful of top-30 visits on the books, but they will want to nail down the rest with the draft now four weeks away.
Of course, the real answer could be much simpler.
Bears Likely Favor Caleb Williams Over Drake Maye
The Bears are still in the process of completing their evaluation of Williams. They had two days of meetings with him in Los Angeles last week before sending at least nine representatives to USC’s pro day to watch him throw. Next, the Bears will bring him to Halas Hall for a top-30 visit, which Poles says will take place in the first week of April.
Listening to how the Bears are talking about Williams, though, it sure seems like they are close to making up their minds — if they have not decided on him already at No. 1.
“When you talk to his teammates, they don’t like him, they love him,” Poles said Monday. “His leadership, how he brings people together. He’s intentional with his leadership. Same goes with the staff. I’m having a hard time finding a person that doesn’t like him or even love him and thinks that he can reach the highest limits. The feedback’s been good.”
The biggest missing piece now is Williams’ medicals. Williams declined to participate in medical testing at the 2024 NFL Combine in Indianapolis at the end of February, which is unusual but not impractical. He likely understands that only a few teams, if more than one, are going to have a shot at drafting him and that he has no need to share that information with more teams than the one that will be drafting him.
Still, the Bears will have to run their tests and ensure there are no unexpected medical red flags with Williams before committing their No. 1 overall pick to him. If he checks out, the Bears could realistically have a decision made about him as early as next week.