ESPN
May 15, 2025, 10:43 AM ET
Quarterback Caleb Williams was so concerned about being picked by the Chicago Bears in 2024 that he and his family weighed circumventing the entire NFL draft, consulting with lawyers to figure out a way around the league's collective bargaining agreement while considering signing with the United Football League, details from a forthcoming book reveal.
"Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die," Carl Williams, Caleb's father, told Seth Wickersham, author of "American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback," in the months before the 2024 draft.
Caleb Williams wondered aloud to confidants: "Do I want to go there? I don't think I can do it with [former Bears offensive coordinator Shane] Waldron."
The forthcoming book, to be published in September, offers a detailed account of what it means to be a quarterback at various levels, from high school to college to the NFL, and what it's like for legends in retirement. It features unprecedented access with dozens of quarterbacks and generational greats such as John Elway, Johnny Unitas, Warren Moon, members of the Manning family and Steve Young, among others. It also includes current signal-callers such as Kirk Cousins and Drake Maye.
Additionally, there are new details inside the ruthless recruitment of Texas quarterback Arch Manning, and the youth quarterback circuit. It also chronicles LSU quarterback Colin Hurley's near-death car wreck in January and subsequent full recovery. Wickersham is an ESPN reporter; his first book on the New England Patriots was a New York Times bestseller.
This book offers an inside look at Williams' state of mind.
Carl Williams went to great lengths to try to circumvent the NFL draft, Wickersham writes, wanting to give his son an opportunity to choose his future employer. The Bears had not drafted a star quarterback since the 1980s, and their recent draft selections, Mitchell Trubisky and Justin Fields, didn't pan out. Carl Williams was worried that, with the franchise's history, stadium uncertainty and offensive performances under then-head coach Matt Eberflus, Caleb Williams wouldn't have the organizational support to succeed.
"I don't want my son playing for the Bears," Williams told several agents in 2024.
Looking for a way around the league's collective bargaining agreement, Carl Williams spoke with Archie Manning, who helped Eli Manning assert a measure of control over his eventual team in 2004. He also met with labor lawyers and agents -- and even considered whether his son could sign with the United Football League and become an unrestricted NFL free agent in 2025 to be able to pick a team. In addition to the draft process, Carl Williams vented about the rookie wage scale, which could lock his son into the team that drafted him for up to eight years. He calculated hundreds of millions of lost market-value income.
"The rookie cap is just unconstitutional," Carl Williams told Wickersham, later adding that the CBA is the "worst piece of s--- I've ever read. It's the worst in sports history."
After an up-and-down final season at USC, Caleb Williams was unsure of what he wanted to do as he prepared for the 2024 draft. At the NFL combine that year, he met with Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell. The two hit it off, and Caleb Williams began to dream of what it would be like to play for Minnesota.
"I need to go to the Vikings," he told his father.
"Let's do it," his father replied. But both Caleb and Carl knew that a trade to a divisional rival was extremely unlikely.
Bears GM Ryan Poles stood firm, telling Williams, "We're drafting you no matter what."
That left one option: To publicly attack the Bears and the city of Chicago, hoping that it would make the situation untenable -- similar to what Jack and John Elway had done with the Baltimore Colts in 1983.
"He's worried about me taking bullets," Carl Williams told Wickersham of his son. "I don't care. I just don't agree with this s---, you know? I'm more interested in making sure that he can do what he wants to do."
But Caleb was concerned that if they did try and the Bears refused to trade him, it would make a tough situation worse. In the end, Caleb Williams told Wickersham, "I wasn't ready to nuke the city."
After a predraft visit to the Bears facility, Williams believed he could be part of a process to turn the franchise around.
"I can do it for this team," Caleb told his dad. "I'm going to go to the Bears."
The Bears declined to comment.
The book also sheds light on Williams' tumultuous rookie season, in which both Eberflus and Waldon were fired and the Bears lost 10 straight games.
At times, Williams said he would watch film alone, with no instruction or guidance from the coaches. "No one tells me what to watch," Caleb Williams told his dad. "I just turn it on."
Caleb Williams mostly played well as a rookie, despite the coaching instability. For the year, he completed 62.5% of his passes, with 20 touchdown passes and six interceptions. He was sacked a league-leading 68 times.
The Bears hired well-respected Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson in January. Speaking to reporters in April, Caleb Williams was excited.
"Being able to be in this position, being able to have a first year the way I did, ups and downs, and then to be able come in here, be as confident as I was last year or possibly even more and to be able to get here with the group that we have, I really can't wait to get to work with these guys," he said.
"Him pushing me is key," he said. "I know that, and he knows that. ... I can't wait and to be able to help me learn more about ball because he's super smart, super sharp."
