Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams all the time favored watching Calvin Johnson highlights. He was in awe of “Megatron” catching passes in double and triple protection.
As Williams received older, he began paying extra consideration to the man throwing Johnson the ball.
“I sort of realized how good Matthew Stafford is at his job,” Williams mentioned.
The Bears (1-2) host the Los Angeles Rams (1-2) on Sunday, and whereas Williams and Stafford aren’t taking part in towards one another, the No. 1 choose will get to share the sector with a quarterback he’s admired. On “The Kay Adams Present” earlier this summer time, Williams couldn’t imagine that Stafford ranked No. 42 on the NFL’s Prime 100 checklist.
“I don’t suppose I can identify two, three quarterbacks that play the place higher than Matthew Stafford proper now,” he mentioned.
Stafford, in his sixteenth NFL season, has change into the quarterback youthful sign callers, like Williams and Houston Texans’ C.J. Stroud, revere.
“It’s humbling,” Stafford mentioned. “I bear in mind being of their footwear, considering the identical factor about Brett Favre and Peyton Manning once I received to go towards these guys at first of my profession. I’m not placing myself in that very same breath, nevertheless it was a very cool expertise.”
Matthew Stafford threw for 221 yards and a TD within the Rams’ victory final week towards the 49ers. (Gary A. Vasquez / USA At this time)
When Favre performed in Minnesota, he approached Stafford at a Lions–Vikings sport, an change Stafford will “always remember.”
“He got here as much as me and was like, ‘Hey man, I’m an enormous fan,’ ” Stafford mentioned. “I’m like, ‘You possibly can’t say that to me, proper? I’m the fan of you. I’ve been watching you play for eternally.’ So it’s cool. It’s humbling that these guys are paying consideration.”
Williams and Stafford determine to have an analogous interplay Sunday when the quarterbacks meet postgame.
“First, I’d say (Stafford) controls the sport as a quarterback,” Williams mentioned Wednesday at Halas Corridor. “He is aware of how you can get out and in of issues effectively. He is aware of the place persons are going to be. He is aware of the place the defensive gamers are going to be, so he can transfer them on a string.
“Watching him be capable of transfer defenders, be capable of transfer and maneuver within the pocket and nonetheless ship some good passes down the sector and even simply getting the ball to your again and permitting him to go to work. Retaining the ball in play. A bunch of various arm angles and issues like that.
“He’s been doing it for some time. So watching somebody like that who has the success that he‘s had, you need to study from that.”
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Rams head coach Sean McVay is in his fourth yr with Stafford, and he has heard from loads of quarterbacks who admire the way in which Stafford performs.
“I believe there’s loads of respect for the toughness, the competitiveness of Matthew — the flexibility to all the time keep within the battle,” McVay mentioned. “A few of the different issues by way of how he’s beating you together with his capacity to govern protection by way of his eyes, understanding how you can transfer defenders which are visible on him to open and broaden home windows.”
Quarterbacks are notoriously soccer nerds. They may watch the tape of fellows who got here earlier than them simply as a lot as they examine their present-day colleagues.
“I believe while you speak to any of those youthful quarterbacks … there’s loads of respect and reverence for the way in which that Matthew goes about it from coaches and gamers as a result of they will actually admire the finer issues that perhaps get misplaced until you’re actually evaluating and know what’s going on from an all-22 perspective,” McVay mentioned. “He’s a enjoyable man to observe, too.”
Williams’ first three NFL begins have all come towards second-year quarterbacks — Will Levis, Stroud and Anthony Richardson. However there’s one thing totally different about going through a QB who’s seen as a lot as Stafford and might nonetheless do it at a excessive stage.
“The previous canine nonetheless has some cool methods that he can bust out,” McVay mentioned. “I believe the respect that you just earn out of your friends, particularly at such a particular fraternity of those who play the place, that’s actually cool. Anyone that I actually respect or that I’ve talked to, whether or not it’s a participant or somebody that coaches the place, there’s a ton of reverence and respect for Matthew primarily based on what he’s executed all all through his profession.”
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Caleb Williams’ encouraging throws give Bears one thing to construct on
Williams was 8 years previous when the Lions chosen Stafford with the No. 1 general choose in 2008. As a lot as Williams can study from the 2024 model of Stafford, he can even be aware of how Stafford’s profession started, as the latest No. 1 choose navigates his personal rookie turbulence.
Stafford was 2-8 as a rookie, as he took over for a winless Lions group. He threw 13 landing passes and 20 interceptions.
“(My rookie season) was robust for positive,” he mentioned, “we have been a group in loads of transition at that time. … There have been some big-time highs, and a few big-time lows so far as my play and our group’s efficiency.”
Williams is 1-2 with two landing passes, 4 interceptions and a misplaced fumble. He’s coming off his best efficiency however hasn’t gotten a ton of assist from the run sport, offensive line or play calling.
Rookie to rookie 🙌
📺: #CHIvsIND on CBS pic.twitter.com/6sBrElwAJu
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) September 22, 2024
It’s not like Williams must be reminded of Stafford’s first season. He is aware of the way it works on this league, even on a roster that was constructed for him to keep away from a few of these typical struggles. Stafford’s harder moments as a younger participant will all the time stick with him, regardless of his years of success.
Solely gamers who’ve gone by way of what a rookie season actually is for a quarterback perceive how their vary of experiences shapes them as they develop.
“It’s all a studying alternative, an opportunity to search out what you are able to do (and) what you possibly can’t do,” mentioned Stafford, who believes that quarterbacks who need to play within the NFL for a very long time have to stay collectively and pull for one another. “(Williams) is clearly immensely gifted. He makes performs each single week that you just see on TV that blow you away. As a quarterback, I sit there and go, ‘Man, that’s some unimaginable stuff.’ After which I’m positive there are performs he needs again — like all of us.
“He looks as if a pointy child, actually gifted. I’m positive he’ll determine it out.”
Bears heart Coleman Shelton performed for the Rams the earlier 5 seasons, beginning 30 video games from 2022-23.
When he discovered in regards to the excessive reward Williams supplied for his former teammate, he mentioned the rookie picked the proper veteran to emulate.
“I believe he’s actually sensible for saying that,” Shelton mentioned. “Matthew’s a professional’s professional. He goes on the market and he’s a competitor and he grinds. It’s nice tape for him to observe. … Each clearly are excessive arm abilities. They’ll throw the soccer. Matthew’s no-look stuff or with the ability to throw whereas he’s getting hit and all that stuff is so spectacular. Caleb’s doing that, too.”
In Los Angeles, backup heart/guard Justin Dedich was Williams’ heart at USC. Williams took Dedich, together with the remainder of the Trojans’ offensive line, with him to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony after the 2022 season. Dedich now sees Stafford’s habits and information up shut.
2024 rundown: How they’ve fared
| QB | G | C-A | PCT | YARDS | TD-INT | RTG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 69-101 | 68.3 | 754 | 2-1 | 92.6 | |
| 3 | 70-118 | 59.3 | 630 | 2-4 | 65.3 |
“Simply watching Matthew it’s like, he’s an distinctive chief. … He is aware of the sport at a distinct stage,” Dedich mentioned. “He’s an ideal chief by way of phrases however (additionally) with feelings and actions. I believe that’s what Caleb sees, as a result of (Stafford is) a participant (who) everybody on this group appears as much as him. As a rookie coming on this yr, it’s like, you hear a lot about Matthew. You get to see him work, it reassures that persona of him. I see what Caleb sees about him and I’m glad he selected Matthew (to look as much as).”
Stafford jokes that the reward he has not too long ago gotten from the NFL’s subsequent technology of quarterbacks makes him “really feel previous — however I’ll take it.”
It brings him again — to the nice, the unhealthy, the difficult; to how he grew up as a participant and an individual. That’s the journey of each rookie quarterback within the NFL.
“It wasn’t all easy crusing, I do know that, proper? I used to be making an attempt to determine all of it out,” Stafford mentioned. “I used to be making an attempt to be the perfect participant I might for our group, attempt to determine being that far-off from dwelling, there’s simply so many issues transitioning in your life at that time.
“The extra you concentrate on the issues which you could management, the higher off you’ll be.”
(Prime pictures of Matthew Stafford and Caleb Williams: Rey Del Rio and Stacy Revere / Getty Pictures)
