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Caleb Williams is still five days away from making his NFL regular-season debut for the Chicago Bears, but the No. 1 overall selection is already generating buzz from NFL talent evaluators about his ability to become a “top-five quarterback” in the league by the end of the 2024 season.
During his September 3 interview with ESPN 1000 in Chicago, NFL insider Albert Breer told co-hosts David Kaplan and Jonathan Hood that he recently sent out his annual poll to NFL teams asking them to predict which quarterbacks will rank among the league’s top five by the end of 2024 and has received ballots with Williams on them.
“Caleb Williams has landed on a couple of ballots,” Breer said. “I can say he’s the only rookie that’s shown up on any ballots and he’s gotten on a couple. I’m not saying he’s shown up on 10 ballots or anything, but I think I have 59 in right now and he’s shown up on a couple of them.”
For context, Breer said he sends ballots to “relatively high-level” team staffers in charge of evaluating quarterbacks. The poll includes head coaches, offensive coordinators, quarterback coaches, general managers, assistant GMs and pro scouting directors.
Several top selections are predictable. Breer said Patrick Mahomes will likely finish as the unanimous No. 1, while Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and C.J. Stroud have good chances of rounding out the top five. Still, Williams’ inclusion is noteworthy.
“In this day in age and with what there is in the league right now at quarterback, the fact that he has shown up on a couple of them, I think is a good sign for what people are seeing on tape and how they see the situation around him in Chicago, too,” Breer added.
ESPN Predicts Caleb Williams Will Win 2024 ROTY
The hype surrounding Williams ahead of his first NFL season is real. He is the No. 1 overall pick and has landed with a storied franchise that has never found consistent quarterback success over the years. He also has a strong supporting cast that includes wide receivers D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen and first-round pick Rome Odunze, tight end Cole Kmet and running back D’Andre Swift as well as a promising defensive unit.
Naturally, Williams is considered a frontrunner to win the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award for the 2024 season. The latest odds from DraftKings Sportsbook have Williams (+135) as the current favorite over Washington’s Jayden Daniels (+475) and Arizona’s Marvin Harrison Jr. (+650) — the Nos. 2 and 3 overall picks, respectively.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler also recently polled league executives and scouts to find out which players are most likely to win the NFL’s annual awards. Both Williams and Daniels received “the same amount of votes” but Williams maintains the edge due to his situation in Chicago — and the drought of quality quarterback play for the franchise.
“Caleb has the better supporting cast right now, which should bring the best out in him,” an NFC exec said, via Fowler. “And with Chicago’s struggles offensively over the years, if he has any sort of success in Year 1, he’ll get the sentimental vote.”
Caleb Williams Can Break Bears’ Rookie QB Records
Even if Williams does not reach top-five status or win Offensive Rookie of the Year in his debut 2024 season, he still stands a good chance of breaking several of the Bears’ passing records in his inaugural season if he can achieve even modest success.
The Bears have never had a single 4,000-yard passer in the history of their franchise. Williams would need to average roughly 235.2 passing yards over 17 games as a rookie to become the first to do it, and he would need just 226 yards per game to surpass Erik Kramer as the franchise’s record holder for single-season passing yards (3,838 in 1995).
Kramer also holds the single-season record for passing touchdowns (29) from his 1995 season. Six NFL quarterbacks either met or exceeded that total during the 2023 season, and Williams can snag the record if he averages 1.76 passing touchdowns in 17 games.
The records become much easier to break when looking specifically at the Bears’ rookie passing records. As Windy City Gridiron’s Jacob Infante noted, Williams would need to average 129.1 passing yards per game, 0.7 passing touchdowns per game and a 65.8% completion rate to break all three of the Bears’ major rookie passing records during a 17-game season. Considering Williams’ supporting cast, many records are attainable.
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