The 2024 NFL Season opens tonight with a game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens. The game is a rematch of the AFC Championship game last January, but in its post hyping up the start of the season, the NFL is already paying respect to the Bears' rookie quarterback Caleb Williams.
We are so back. #Kickoff2024 pic.twitter.com/FWH6NDk01c
— NFL (@NFL) September 5, 2024
The NFL is ready for Caleb Williams to be the next great quarterback.
That is Caleb Williams standing side-by-side with the elite quarterbacks of the NFL. NFL fans have come to expect Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs and Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills to be at the top of many quarterback rankings, but the inclusion of Williams front-and-center in the graphic proves that the rookie quarterback has high expectations this season.
It should be no surprise that the two quarterbacks that Williams is next to in the graphic, Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers, are two that the rookie has been most compared to. Throughout his time with the USC Trojans over the past two seasons, many have called Williams the next Mahomes. Even during the preseason, Williams was drawing comparisons to the Chiefs' quarterback.
Meanwhile, the quarterback that Williams has openly admitted to emulating has been Rodgers. One thing is clear: regardless of whether it's Rodgers, Mahomes, or even Allen, if Williams comes close to even repeating a third of what either the three quarterbacks have done throughout their respective careers, the Bears' franchise will be set in the right direction for the next decade.
The graphic from the NFL just further proves how different the Bears feel with Williams than with past rookie quarterbacks Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields. While both Trubisky and Fields had potential upon being selected by the Bears, there wasn't the same expectation there is with Williams. The expectation isn't coming from internally either as many throughout the NFL expect Williams to be great.