Something strange is going on with Caleb Williams. Anybody following the young quarterback from his time at USC can tell you he has rare arm talent. Not only can he throw with great velocity, but he also has plenty of accuracy. Or at least he had it. Monday night against Minnesota saw Williams misfire several passes. Some of them were throws that high school quarterbacks should make. People couldn't understand what the problem was. Some blamed Williams' erratic footwork. Others felt he was way too amped up.
Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner has a different observation. He's been reviewing Williams' game films since last year. Monday night was no exception. He feels the Bears quarterback was unfairly criticized for what he saw as a pretty good outing against a tough defense. One other thing popped up. Warner noticed that Williams has a bad tendency to overexaggerate his attempts to look off defenders from the spots he intends to throw to. While the intention is correct, doing it that way can cause the quarterback to throw off the timing of the play. This often leads Williams to rush his throws, resulting in them being off-target.
Caleb Williams hasn't yet mastered the intricacies of his position.
Keep in mind that he rarely looked off defenders, played under center, and threw timing routes in college. His time at USC was simple:
- Shotgun spread
- Look for the open man
- If nobody is open, scramble around until you find somebody
That is an oversimplified version, but it's still mostly the truth. Caleb Williams only just started learning how to manipulate defenders with his eyes last season. He doesn't understand there can be a downside to these things because of how important the eyes are when throwing on time. By turning his head completely away from his first read, he needed to spend a precious extra split-second reacquiring D.J. Moore. By the time Williams saw where the route had progressed, he had to rush his throw.
The good news is that something like this is easily fixable. Ben Johnson and the coaches must insist to Williams that looking off the defender is less important than keeping the play's timing. More subtlety can be a good thing. Defenders will still follow his gaze even if it's less obvious. Meanwhile, he should be able to keep track of his targets, leading to fewer misfires.
