Bears Ponder Possibility of Something Special
The comparisons have been out there ever since Caleb Williams became a starter at Oklahoma in 2021.
Sometimes his arm angles and off-script throws remind people of Patrick Mahomes.
Bears GM Ryan Poles was in Kansas City when the one and only was drafted and does see the similarities in some respects.
“There’s pieces,” Poles told reporters at the combine. “There’s pieces that are similar. Obviously the one that stands out to eveyrone is just different arm angles (to throw). That’s a unique trait. Not a lot of guys can do that.”
The ball can come out side-armed, straight over the top or three-quarters.
Mahomes will even attempt the occasional underhanded toss forward at the last second to avoid a sack.
Beyond that, there’s something Poles’ director of college scouting Jeff King told him that resonates in this case.
“I give Jeff King, whose on my team, credit,” Poles said. “He painted a picture of, you know, there’s two types of quarterbacks: There’s artists and then there’s surgeons.
“So within that group you can kind of see who’s the artist, that’s really creative, doesn’t draw within the lines, where there’s more of surgeons who are like your typical like the (Tom) Bradys and Peytons (Manning). Kind of branch them out of those buckets and go from there.”
So which kind does Poles like?
“Winners,” he said.
One thing Poles wants to see proof of whether they are surgeons or are artists, or from all the players in the draft for that matter, is taking responsibility by owning mistakes.
“You look for examples of dependability, you’re looking selflessness, leadership, ownership,” Poles said. “I think it’s hard to find people who (say) ‘hey this is wrong, it was wrong and this is what I have to do to correct it,’ rather than kind of BS-ing your way through it.”
As Poles gets to know Williams better at the combine, at a March pro day and maybe a top-30 visit, one thing he says he isn’t concerned about is the earlier rumors the USC QB didn’t want to come to Chicago. He doubts these were even true.
“No, no concerns about that at all,” Poles said. “I would love to know why, if that was the case.
“Like I said I think, as a young quarterback, I’ve been around it, infrastructure is important. And I think we’ve made really good progress in terms of having really good infrastructre for whowever were to come in (at QB) or if Justin were to stay.”
Poles might have a lineman’s background with the game but learned plenty about quarterbacks being with Andy Reid and the Chiefs.
“My background is I’m really fortunate to kind of see multiple phases and different types of processes put in place with bringing a quarterback in from a trade (Alex Smith) to drafting,” Poles said. “So again, just, there’s a process that we’ve learned in terms of tape-watching and getting to know guys and bringing them in and spending time with them to feel comfortable with that setup.
“So I can definitely tap into that experience.”
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
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