Caleb Williams has cracked ESPN’s annual top-10 quarterback rankings for the first time, landing at No. 10 in the survey of more than 70 league executives, coaches and scouts published Monday. No Bears quarterback had appeared on the list at all during Williams’ tenure — he was unranked in last year’s edition.
The final spot came down to a four-man decision. Williams, Seattle’s Sam Darnold, Green Bay’s Jordan Love and Washington’s Jayden Daniels finished so close that ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler took it to tiebreakers, gathering input from general managers and executives. Williams won on a practical argument: he is the hardest of the four to prepare for. “He’s the most dynamic of the group,” one GM told ESPN. “He’s got the arm talent and overall athleticism suited for today’s game.”
The case for him reads like a development checklist. His sack total fell from 68 as a rookie to 24 last season, the clearest evidence that he and the offense caught up to NFL speed. His 11 touchdown passes of 20-plus yards downfield led all quarterbacks by two. He has thrown 13 interceptions on 1,130 career attempts, a strong rate for a passer asked to create as much as he is. And his six fourth-quarter comebacks led the league in 2025. “He’s a closer,” an NFL personnel evaluator said in the piece. “End of games, he has shown that.”
The reservations are just as specific. Williams’ 20.2% off-target rate ranked 37th of 38 qualifying quarterbacks — a figure partly inflated by throwaways and off-platform escapes, but real enough that one veteran defensive coach called him “wildly erratic” in the same evaluation that credited him with “plays only he and Mahomes can make” and “the ‘it’ factor in crunch time.”
Closing that gap is the assignment for year three. Williams gets his second consecutive summer in Ben Johnson’s offense — same play-caller, same terminology, no reset — and the voters’ complaint about missed layups is precisely the kind of thing continuity is supposed to fix. Rookies report to Halas Hall on July 25, veterans on July 28. Division context worth noting: Detroit’s Jared Goff sits one spot ahead at No. 9, giving the NFC North two of the survey’s top 10.
