Kurt Warner knows a thing or two about playing quarterback in the NFL. He made countless sacrifices even to make the league and went from undrafted to the Hall of Fame. During that unforgettable run, he played in several different offensive systems. Some were cutting-edge for their time. Others made him question whether he could play in the league anymore. After watching Caleb Williams last year, it didn't take Warner long to realize that the scheme he played in under Shane Waldron was all wrong for him.
The primary issue was that it was a full-progression system. That meant Williams had to stay in the pocket and read the entire field. Warner's problem was that Waldron asked the quarterback to do things he'd never done in college. It shouldn't have been surprising that Williams took so many sacks from holding the ball too long. Things have changed under Ben Johnson. Warner believes his system is much better at giving quarterbacks more advantageous reads, which should lead to faster decision-making.
Warner is basically saying Caleb Williams holds the cards now.
Any quarterback worth his salt should be able to run the system Johnson deploys. Jared Goff used it to put forward the best seasons of his NFL career. He admitted the scheme made football easy for him. Warner made it clear. If Caleb Williams displays the same issues from last year in this offense, it might be time to have the hard discussion about whether he can make it in this league. There is no reason to think that will be the case. There are already signs that Williams is picking the system up quickly. His practices have shown steady improvement. Johnson has praised how much better he's handling the pre-snap procedures. With some time and patience, this can work out as many hope.
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