After dominating at Ohio State for two years in college, Justin Fields came in with plenty of hype. His freakish physical traits made it easy to understand. Still, plenty of people felt it would still be an adjustment for him in the NFL. Pro speed is different from college speed. However, Fields raised a lot of eyebrows leading up to his rookie year. His first preseason game went well. Reporters asked him if the game was tougher than what he’d seen in college. The first words were impossible to misinterpret. “It was actually kind of slow to me, to be honest. I think I was expecting it to be a little bit faster.” Everybody knows what happened after that. Defenses always seemed a step ahead of him, and he never fully caught up. Unsurprisingly, it was only a matter of time before Caleb Williams got asked the same question.
Like Fields, he arrived in Chicago with tons of hype after a stellar career at Oklahoma and USC. Some wondered if he carried the same arrogance that the NFL wasn’t ready for him. Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune asked the question.
Yeah, it’s tough. And like Tom Brady said at his retirement. … And obviously he’s won seven Super Bowls and done all these other things. But he comes back after his retirement and says this job is hard. That’s one of the things I realized, since I’ve met him before. The job is hard. And it’s always going to be that way…
…If I didn’t see it and I did react well or if I did see it and got us in the right plays or right checks, all those things work out. So the job is hard, just to be honest. You get here around 6 something (in the morning), a couple hours before meetings. And then you go home at night and you do a little bit more studying of the playbook — the plays, the motions, the protections and things like that. The job is hard. And it’s going to continue to be hard.
Fields was a talented young man. He also has an excellent work ethic. The problem with him, and various reports have confirmed this over the past year, is he never seemed interested in learning what awaited him in the NFL. The Bears had two proven veterans, Nick Foles and Andy Dalton, on the roster when he arrived. Those were two excellent brains he could’ve picked for information about what to expect in the NFL. Yet, from everything said, Fields had zero interest. He almost resented them being on the team, threatening his chance at playing time. It’s little wonder he looked utterly lost when he finally got on the field as a rookie.
Caleb Williams is under no such illusions. He has been reaching out to various people about what to expect in the NFL since the moment he got drafted. That includes Tom Brady and other current or former quarterbacks. Any information he can glean will be used in crafting his game. There will be no waltzing onto the field expecting things to work out simply because he’s talented. Everything is about preparation. Williams knows there will be speed bumps along the way. His job is to learn to accept them and work hard to overcome them.
