As expected, one of the top prospects for the 2024 NFL draft has officially entered it.
Quarterback Caleb Williams will leave USC and jump to the NFL. Williams announced his decision Monday on social media.
He could have returned to college for a year, made more NIL money, and entered the draft in 2025. His father had mentioned that possible strategy, as a way to avoid being drafted by one of the worst teams in the NFL.
This year, the Bears hold the pick originally owned by the worst team currently in the NFL, the Panthers. The question becomes whether the Bears (who are not one of the worst teams in the NFL and who haven’t had a true franchise quarterback since Sid Luckman) draft Williams or whether they trade the pick to someone else.
Williams definitely should not sit back and let things play out without his input. If there’s a team he doesn’t want to play for, he needs to make that known, as privately and discreetly as possible. And since he has money in the bank, he could threaten to sit out for a year and re-enter the draft if a team he doesn’t want to join thinks about trading up to get him.
We’re all brainwashed into thinking that having someone else determine the first step on a highly-skilled athlete’s NFL career is a rare honor blended with divine fate. Baloney. The honor goes to the team that gets the player. And the player have every right to attempt to control his own football destiny.
It’s not a Harry Potter sorting hat. Your story isn’t predetermined. You determine it. More players than John Elway in 1982, Bo Jackson in 1986, and Eli Manning in 2004 need to think — and act — that way.
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