No one was surprised when the Chicago Bears selected Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. But Williams said the team had been planning his arrival further back than some thought. draft night call General manager Ryan Pauls said Chicago had kept its plans for the quarterback under wraps for “five months.”
Pole first joked about Williams' long-predicted selection, telling the USC product “they told me to hold on” in the Bears' final minutes of the game. [the pick] It's five minutes.'' This isn't the first time NFL decision-makers have disdained the league's intervention to create excitement for draft broadcasts.
But the Pole went one step further, joking to Williams, “I told everyone I've been holding back for a month.” Remember that the Bears traded former starter Justin Fields in mid-March, all but clearing Williams' path to No. 1?
“Five months! Five months!” Williams replied. “I've been holding out for five months.”
It's true that Williams has been linked to the Bears since at least the end of the 2023 season, when Chicago owned two first-round picks in the 2024 draft. But if his calculations are correct, Williams expected to be finished in the Windy City by Nov. 25. At that point, the Bears were 3-8 with six games left in the season.
Was his comment delivered in jest? Probably so. But if Williams is within reach, the Bears may be close to confirming what they always expected to move on from Fields, a 2021 first-round pick. As it turns out, head coach Matt Eberflus was just elated when it was his turn to talk on the phone Thursday night.
“This day will go down as an iconic day in Bears history,” he told Williams.
