INDIANAPOLIS -- University of Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams has been projected as the No. 1 pick of the 2024 NFL Draft for over a year.
He's expecting to hear his name called first on Day One of the draft (Thursday, April 25). But he might not have anticipated the intense media scrutiny he has faced over the last nine months.
Williams' name has maintained a constant presence in the college football news cycle, whether he likes it or not, but as he admitted Friday at the NFL Scouting Combine, he doesn't speak too often. It's why he felt it was important to take the podium at the Indianapolis Convention Center and answer questions from a sea of assembled media, receiving an opportunity to set the record straight on a few topics, including his decision to decline to participate in the combine's ever-valuable medical evaluation process.
His reasoning is simple: Williams isn't going to be evaluated for teams he knows won't be in the market for him.
"For the medical stuff, I'll be doing the medical stuff, just not here in Indy. I'll be doing it at the team interviews," Williams said. "Not 32 teams can draft me. There's only one of me. So, the teams that I go to for my visit, those teams will have the medical. And that will be it."
Williams also isn't throwing at the combine, which isn't unusual for a top-flight quarterback who can better control the environment by throwing at a pro day -- or not throwing at all and instead resting on the game tape he's already produced. Williams delivered a bluntly honest response on the issue on Friday.
"I didn't feel the need to go out and throw," he said. "I played around 30-something games, I believe. Go ahead and go watch real live ball of me and see how I am as a competitor."
Williams has been paired with the Chicago Bears since the moment they secured the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 draft. It hasn't exactly been portrayed as a match made in heaven, but amid the noise, Williams hasn't been afforded many opportunities to speak on his potential future employers -- until Friday.
"The Bears were an 8-9 team last year, I believe -- 7-10, sorry -- and that's pretty good for a team that has the first pick," Williams said. "They've got a good defense. They've got good players on offense. It's pretty exciting to jump to a situation like that."
If everything holds, Williams will hear his name called first in Detroit, home of the 2024 draft. He's fully prepared for that moment, the end goal of a journey that began back at Oklahoma University, continued with his transfer to USC, and will reach its final stop in the Motor City.
"It's not a thought in my mind. I don't think that I'm not gonna be No. 1," Williams said. "I think I put in all the hard work, all of the time, effort, energy into being that.
"I don't think of a Plan B. That's kind of how I do things in my life. I don't think of a Plan B, stay on Plan A and then when things don't work out, find a way to make Plan A work."
