2024 NFL Draft: NFL Head coach suggests Bears to weigh J.J. McCarthy against Caleb Williams for no. 1 pick
The Chicago Bears have the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and only a disaster will take Caleb Williams out of the first pick. The USC quarterback knows that he'll suit for the Illinois team and that's all but sealed.
But not everybody is sure that the Bears should go with the USC prospect, and some even say that the team must hold this decision until the day of the draft. An NFL head coach suggested that Chicago should consider J.J. McCarthy with the first overall pick based on what he showed in the previous two years:
You're never going to be in that spot again, so you better get the right guy, when [McCarthy] did throw it - and he had to throw it -, it was pretty impressive, man. He beat Alabama -- he had to make big-time throws in that game, and he did. If I was Chicago, I'd be bringing in Caleb and J.J. this week and grinding the s--- out of those two. Because there's not enough evidence to say Caleb is clearly No. 1.
Which QB could help the Bears more?
The answer is actually pretty obvious.
In 2022, Caleb Wiliams' season earned him practically every individual award: Heisman, Maxwell, Walter Camp, Associated Press, Sporting News... it's a long list, and the quarterback's performance on the field justified it all. In 2023, we saw a different side: with an awful offensive line and a non-existent defense, not even Williams' magic meant that USC could have a better season. In one of the losses, he was filmed crying in the stands with his family after.
When the 2024 NFL Draft begins on April 25, Williams will go to a franchise that's crying out for a leader with his characteristics. You don't think of the Chicago Bears as a franchise with a history of great quarterbacks, and that hurts even more when the historic rival, the Green Bay Packers, has had a decades-long streak with an elite player at the position - and, it seems, this period will last for more time with Jordan Love.
Williams is built for this. The Bears need a player with his characteristics on and off the field. He has enough potential to become a historic player, enough quality to generate hope in a franchise that has caused an immense amount of pain to its fans in recent years and, who knows, end a wait that has lasted since 1985.