Why one ex-NFL quarterback says Caleb Williams won’t have a C.J. Stroud-like rookie season originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Ahead of a highly-anticipated Bears season, fans are hopeful rookie quarterback Caleb Williams gets off to a hot start.
Last year rookie C.J. Stroud had a phenomenal season, earning the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award and finishing eighth in MVP voting. Williams should be able to replicate a season close to Stroud’s, right?
“I think there are two main reasons why I sit there and say while Caleb can have a really strong rookie year, it’s unrealistic to think let’s go do what C.J. did,” Dan Orlovsky said on ESPN. “Number one, C.J. came from a much more ready, X’s and O’s intellect football-wise.
“When he was at Ohio State, Ryan Day ran a ton of pro-style stuff when it came to formations, personnel groupings, action after the snap and pass game. So C.J. stepped into a system with Bobby Slowik that he had a lot of recall from college of and a really good understanding of how pass-game concepts were gonna mirror each other.
“Caleb does not come from that. While Lincoln Riley is brilliant and his offense was brilliant, it’s very different from what he’s gonna run in Chicago with Shane Waldron, who’s their offensive coordinator. It’s from the Kyle Shannahan and Sean McVay tree. Caleb Williams comes from the offense at USC with Lincoln Riley where it’s RPO-centric, spread out, tempo, how many plays can we run? One-read stuff.
“I think he’s smart enough to get where C.J. did, but he doesn’t have that baseline foundational starting point. It’s unrealistic to think Caleb’s gonna step in and all of a sudden he’s going to hit the ground running the same way that C.J. did because he doesn’t have the same foundation, intellect and football-wise the way that C.J. did coming out of Ohio State.”
Orlovsky makes an interesting point about the systems Williams and Stroud came from. Stroud’s system at Ohio State benefitted him with the Texans because…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-one-ex-nfl-quarterback-214517278.html
Author : NBC Sports Chicago
Publish date : 2024-07-17 21:45:17
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