Caleb Williams (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
NFL teams reportedly see one giant red flag in USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams, a virtual lock to be drafted first overall by the Chicago Bears in the NFL Draft on Thursday.

The Bears obtained the first overall pick via the Carolina Panthers, who gave up their 2024 first-round selection as part of the deal to move up for Bryce Young. Thanks to that move, the longtime-struggling Bears will now draft Caleb Williams to fix a franchise that last won the Super Bowl in the 1985 season.

Though there’s zero reason to believe that the Bears will go in another direction with the No. 1 pick, one former NFL scout offered a scathing take on the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner. That scout revealed that several teams have one giant concern with the 22-year-old.

Speaking on the “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast, David Fleming of Meadowlark shared a take on Williams that he received from the former scout. The scout critiqued Williams’ visibly expressing his emotions following a Pac-12 loss, stating that a lot of teams are scared by him:

“Raw emotion is great, but Caleb’s thing? That was ridiculous to me. That threw up major red flags…You just lost a game in the middle of your f**king) season, and it was like your third loss in the Pac-12, and you went hugging on mommy and crying in mommy’s arms…I will tell you, he scares the sh*t out of a lot of NFL teams too. The book on him is he’s just kind of a weird kid. One GM told me it’s like if Prince played quarterback

Regardless of how other teams may feel about Williams, the Bears have an easy choice to take him first overall. GM Ryan Poles would not have traded Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for the low price of a late-round pick if he wasn’t planning to take Williams.

Caleb Williams Can Succeed Right Away In Chicago

Many notable quarterbacks who were drafted first overall enjoyed tough rookie years. That list includes John Elway, Troy Aikman, Peyton Manning, Trevor Lawrence and of course the aforementioned Bryce Young.

But the Bears have assembled a deep roster that will give Williams ever chance to shine right away. He has two explosive pass-catchers in Keenan Allen and DJ Moore, plus two potential 1,000-yard rushers in D’Andre Swift and Khalil Herbert.

Chicago also holds the No. 9 selection, so they could use that pick to draft another big-time weapon for Williams. With this supporting cast, Williams is in a good spot to dominate early and often in year one.