LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- It was no surprise when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell took the podium on Thursday night and announced that with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, the Chicago Bears selected Caleb Williams, quarterback from USC.
The decision felt like a foregone conclusion for months. Williams’ tape spoke for itself, and when the Bears brass raved about Williams’ makeup as a person following their various points of contact with him over the pre-draft process, it was a wrap.
But Williams said he didn’t feel like he knew he was going to be a Bears until much later, when he made his top-30 visit to Halas Hall in early April.
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“I felt good at that point,” Williams said. “I got to be around the guys, the coaches, the executives.”
Williams spent most of his visit at the Bears facilities and the surrounding area, since that’s where he’s going to be spending most of his time.
“I felt comfortable. I felt good. I was happy, and ready to go.”
The biggest takeaway for Williams from that visit– and the biggest reason he felt so good with the Bears– was that he got a sense of how dedicated the team is to setting the team up to win. All teams say they want to win, but the Bears showed him how they were going to implement a plan not only for the team to succeed as a whole, but for him to succeed as well.
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“That only holds me accountable and it makes me excited to be around people like that,” Williams said. “You’re who you are but you also are the people that are closest to you. So having people around you that want to win only elevates you and your game.”
It won’t take long for the Bears and Williams to start putting their plan to work. Rookie minicamp begins early next month.