What matters, what doesn’t amid ‘noise’ surrounding potential Bears draft pick Caleb Williams?

INDIANAPOLIS — Those who know USC quarterback Caleb Williams personally find it annoying, though maybe a little amusing, that the people taking swipes at him appear to be too far removed from him to be truly informed.

That’s one of the challenges for the Bears, who have the No. 1 pick in the draft and met briefly with Williams at the NFL scouting combine: Discerning what’s accurate and what matters.

The upside to Williams’ breakout season in 2022, when he won the Heisman Trophy, was that it established him as the clear top choice in the draft this year, but it also left a ton of time for analysts, talk-show hosts and the multitudes on social media to fill by nitpicking his game and questioning his character.

Is he high maintenance? Is he me-first? Is he too concerned with things other than football? Is he weird for painting his fingernails? Is he soft for crying and hugging his mom after a loss? The open season on Williams has been endless and mostly ridiculous.

“It’s been unfavorable to him and it’s been a little bit unfair,” said Penn State offensive tackle Olu Foshanu, who spent three years with Williams at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. “I know the type of guy he is. I still talk to him to this day. It sucks when you see headlines and different quotes, but that’s the name of the game.

“But it doesn’t affect him at all. He’s just gonna keep being himself.”

NFL teams seem fine with Williams being himself, or at minimum are giving far more weight to his play than anything else. Three scouts from AFC teams told the Sun-Times during the combine that while there are various concerns, they all reached the same conclusion: They’d take Williams in a heartbeat.

Declining to work out or undergo medical assessments at the combine was unconventional, but inconsequential since he’ll happily do that for the individual teams that actually have a chance at drafting him. Williams did take measurements Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium, though, and checked in at 6-foot-1, 214 pounds. As he said Friday, that’s close to Aaron Rodgers’ size. His arms are 32 inches, his wingspan is 75 7/8 inches and his hands are 9 3/4 inches.

Those are merely details to Williams, who advised everyone to “go ahead and watch [film] to see how I am as a competitor.” Over the last two seasons at USC, he completed 67.5% of his passes, averaged 314.2 yards per game and threw 72 touchdown passes against 10 interceptions.

That talent has been obvious since childhood.

“It was like Superman,” said Oklahoma tackle Walter Rouse, who played at Williams’ rival high school. “It was clear he was going to be destined for greatness.”

Whereas Fields has wowed as a runner but underwhelmed as a passer, Williams’ ability to create with his legs and arms dovetails perfectly with the direction of modern football. He’s in a tier by himself in this draft class.

Whether people buy into the supposed red flags or not, he’s almost certainly going No. 1, and it’s up to the Bears general manager Ryan Poles whether he wants to use the top pick on him or cash it in for a wealth of assets in a trade. His most likely course is to draft Williams and trade quarterback Justin Fields.

Poles and coach Matt Eberflus know Fields well after two-plus years working together at Halas Hall, and for whatever frustrations they have with his performance as a passer, they love his constitution. Fields is thick-skinned, relentless and no-nonsense. He’s mentally and physically resilient. The locker room loves him.

The goal over the next month and a half leading up to the draft is to gauge Williams’ readiness in those categories. The Bears will do that by talking to dozens of former teammates and coaches.

“I can’t say one bad thing about him,” USC offensive lineman Jarrett Kingsley said Saturday. “He’s the ultimate leader. He’s not afraid to get in your face and make sure you’re doing the right thing, but he’s also not in your face all the time.

“There’s a lot of noise about Caleb, but… he’s not what it’s all made out to be [in the media].”

Williams could’ve asserted his own influence on the narrative over the last few months, of course, but said Friday he prefers to keep quiet publicly. Until the combine, he hadn’t done anything to squash the rumor that he’d try to pull a power play to avoid going to the Bears. Poles dismissed that as untrue to his knowledge, and Williams said Friday he looked forward to the opportunity to “create and rewrite history” if they drafted him.

His overall handling of his public image raised questions — for some at least — about his inner circle’s ability to navigate the ups and downs of a celebrity who will only grow more popular once he joined the NFL. Williams doesn’t have an agent, instead relying on his father Carl and other advisors.

He certainly is doing things uniquely, but he’s in a unique position. He’s the clear frontrunner to go No. 1. His father is a savvy businessman with a career in commercial real estate development. Williams made unprecedented millions in NIL money as a star in Los Angeles.

He’s going to force NFL teams to adjust to him rather than conform to longstanding expectations. That’s not inherently a problem. Teams need to get used to it because others will follow. Even in this draft, top wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. isn’t hiring an agent and didn’t work out at the combine.

New and different doesn’t necessarily mean bad. And none of it seems significant enough to sway any team from picking him.