Caleb Williams explained his decision to simply meet with teams and speak to the media over his time at the Combine on Friday. The presumptive No. 1 overall pick opted not to participate in drills in front of the NFL world in Indianapolis, which was not a surprising decision given his draft standing and past precedence. However, Williams also opted not to undergo medical testing, and that turned some heads.
“I’ll be doing the medical stuff, just not here in Indy,” Williams said. “I’ll be doing it at the team interviews. Not 32 teams can draft me, there’s only one of me. So the teams that I go to, to visit, those teams will have the medical and that will be it.”
Williams is not the typical NFL draft prospect, and it goes beyond his immense talent. He doesn’t have an agent, instead he has a team of managers and lawyers who advocate for him. He and his father Carl have worked together for years to put him in position to be drafted No. 1 overall, and with that goal squarely in focus now, each decision they make is carefully calculated. Further, Williams is already an immensely wealthy star. The advent of NIL money for college prospects has made it so that Williams doesn’t need big money right away.
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Put it all together and Williams can afford to rewrite some of the “rules” NFL prospects have followed for years. It’s not necessarily a bad or good thing. It’s just different, and it could signal a shift for incoming prospects for years to come.
The decision not to participate in drills was not unusual. Last year, Bryce Young didn’t throw at the Combine. Neither did Joe Burrow in 2020, Kyler Murray in 2019 and several others before them.
The reasoning is simple. All those QBs had nothing to gain by participating in drills, and their tape already spoke for themselves.
“I’ve played around 30-something games I believe,” Williams said. “Go ahead and watch real, live ball of me and see how I am as a competitor.”
