Windy City Gridiron
Caleb Williams has room to improve in plenty of areas, what’s the most important to you?
It was an interesting rookie season for Caleb Williams. On the one hand, he had arguably one of the top five quarterback seasons in Chicago Bears history.
On the other hand, his advanced statistics were poor, and he took far too many sacks. Of course, many of Williams’ sacks were not on him, but some were, and if that continues, it is, obviously, not sustainable for Williams’ NFL career.
There are plenty of areas that Ben Johnson can focus on to help Caleb Williams improve. Many of those don’t directly correlate to statistics, but plenty do. Williams had plenty of stats that looked pretty darn good for a rookie. He hit the 20 touchdown threshold, had a great INT%, and threw only 6 interceptions for the season. He also cracked 3500 passing yards, becoming only the third quarterback in Bears history to top that threshold and the first to do it as a rookie.
But on the other side, his completion percentage was only 62%. His yards per attempt were just 6.3. He was sacked an NFL-leading 68 times, just 8 shy of the NFL record by David Carr. His EPA/Play was 28th in the league. These numbers have to improve if Williams is going to become an elite NFL quarterback.
My answer: If I’m being honest, the stats I just mentioned all have to improve, but which one is most important? The sacks need to improve, but I expect them to with an improved offensive line, so that’s one I don’t think is the most important. I think his completion percentage needs to improve, but I also believe a better-designed offense from Ben Johnson will improve not only the completion percentage but also EPA/Play.
For me, the number I want to see significant improvement on is yards per attempt. If we’re being honest, 6.3 is dreadful. 7.0 should be considered the floor of a decent QB. Last year, 7.0 would have placed Caleb 22nd in the NFL. Caleb at 6.3 was 33rd.
The key number is 7.5. If you finish at 7.5 or above, you should be in the top 15 in the league and pushing to be in the top 10. Williams eventually needs to be at or above 8.0 if he’s going to be elite, but we aren’t there yet. 7.5 is the number Williams needs to be at this year, and a 1.2 increase in yards per attempt would be a significant increase and would be tremendous to see.
Some of Williams' numbers should improve with a better offensive line, a functional offense around him, and, of course, a much better play caller. So, while we should see all those numbers improve, yards per attempt will be the number to watch this season for Caleb Williams.
*What do you say, Bears fans?...
