As Caleb Williams enters the league, all eyes are on him. With high expectations, people are looking forward to seeing how his first year stacks up against CJ Stroud’s stellar rookie campaign. However, ESPN’s Kimberley Martin has cautioned against drawing parallels between the two young quarterbacks.
Advertisement
During a recent “Get Up” segment, Martin pinpointed that Williams and Stroud are different individuals facing dissimilar circumstances. She highlighted how a quarterback’s success isn’t solely determined by talent, but also by the system they’re entering.
Martin used Bryce Young’s challenging rookie year with the Carolina Panthers as an example of how even highly touted prospects can struggle in suboptimal environments. Calling the comparisons unfair, the analyst noted,
“Justin Fields to Caleb, different personality, different player. There is so much out there that Caleb is phenomenal in his own right. The situations are different, his head coach is not DeMeco Ryans, and he doesn’t have Tank Dell. It’s completely different than Houston and he should not be measured by CJ.”
Williams is set to join the Chicago Bears, a franchise with a questionable track record in quarterback development. While head coach Matt Eberflus understands his past mistakes, Martin argues this doesn’t automatically put Williams on equal footing with his predecessor, Justin Fields.
Stroud’s success came within a unique system and team dynamics in Houston. Williams now faces his own set of challenges and expectations, very different from Stroud’s journey. Martin’s arguments perfectly echo former college football coach Nick Saban’s advice for Williams’ new coach.
Saban shares insights with Eberflus on nurturing Williams
The “Get Up” segment kicked off with an exclusive Hard Knocks clip, which had an important conversation between the Bears coach and the college football legend about the Bears’ new QB. Saban, known for his straightforward insights, said, “Expectations are a killer.”
Coach Saban then painted a clear picture of the challenges facing Williams:
“This kid has got so much media, so much hype, so much expectation on doing well and he has to develop so quickly to meet the expectations that everybody has for him. It’s almost impossible.”
Eberflus did acknowledge the need for a gradual process, telling Nick Saban about a plan to ease Williams into the Bears’ system. However, Saban doubled down that these sky-high expectations would be “the biggest thing you got to worry about.”
So, for a young head coach like Eberflus, this guidance from a coaching titan like Saban must be invaluable. It provides a roadmap for navigating the intense pressure surrounding Williams as he enters the NFL.
A lot of highly touted prospects have crumbled under the pressure before, and the most Williams and his new team can do is learn from their experiences and not let the expectations and pressure get to them.
