Tyreek Hill serves up major compliment for Caleb Williams as Bears rookie dazzles vs Chiefs' rivals Bengals
All eyes were on Caleb Williams on Saturday, August 17, as the Chicago Bears rookie took the field against the Cincinnati Bengals in what was technically the Bears' third preseason game.
Any doubts over whether the No. 1 overall pick would suit up in preseason were swiftly dispelled when head coach Matt Eberflus made it clear he had a target for the number of reps he wanted his franchise QB to have before Week 1 kicks off in September. If reps were what Caleb Williams wanted, reps were what he got and the former USC signal caller delivered the goods and then some.
Williams scrambled, threw and weaved past defenders against the Bengals, further fueling what was already a crazy hype train. Even Miami Dolphins superstar Tyreek Hill was awestruck with the rookie.
Hill, whose X bio literally reads "I enjoy starting s**t then leaving," wrote of the Bears rookie:
"Caleb Williams so nice he remind me of..."
Now considering this is chronically online Tyreek Hill we're talking about, there's just two options to complete his tweet:
1] Tua Tagovailoa
2] Patrick Mahomes
And given how much Caleb Williams was compared to Patrick Mahomes in terms of an I'll-only-run-if-it's-necessary-but-I'll-do-it-well play style, it's safe to say Hill was referring to the three-time Super Bowl champion.
Caleb Williams well aware of Patrick Mahomes comparisons
In an appearance on Colin Cowherd's podcast earlier this year, the Bears rookie acknowledged all the people comparing him to Mahomes. Williams said:
"There's things that he does, physically — obviously, I'm not Patrick Mahomes and I'm not in his brain — but things that he does physically that I don't think that I can't do.
"So, I just call it respect, and hopefully soon I'll be able to see him and have a good battle."
There certainly were some shades of Mahomes to Williams' game against the Chiefs' primary AFC rivals, the Bengals.
The way Williams scrambled for a touchdown, the way he managed to launch a bomb when the pocket was collapsing are all positive signs for the Bears to take as they groom their signal caller to be the face of the franchise.
He was, after all, a big reason why USC's offense averaged 41.8 PPG, good enough for third-best in the country.
Williams drew wide-ranging compliments from a host of NFL analysts including recently fired ex-ESPN analyst Robert Griffin III, Mina Kimes, and Emmanuel Acho.