NFL Draft: USC Trojans’ QB Caleb Williams Becoming Front Runner for No. 1 Overall Pick in 2024
By Evan Bruner
Caleb Williams followed his former Oklahoma head coach, Lincoln Riley, to the USC Trojans this past offseason. In their first season on campus, the duo revived the Trojan brand. Now, Williams is an early favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Despite dropping from the ranks of the unbeaten to Utah on Saturday night, USC starting quarterback Caleb Williams continued his stellar sophomore campaign with 538 total yards and five touchdowns.
Through seven games with USC, the Oklahoma transfer has thrown for 1,971 yards, 19 touchdowns, and only one interception. Williams has also proven to be a serious threat on the ground, rushing for 235 yards and three additional scores.
These numbers help explain why Williams is one of the mid-season favorites for the Heisman trophy, but his skill set and play style have led to him gaining early consideration for the No. 1 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.
While scouts still have plenty of time to situate what has the potential to be a very talented quarterback class, you don’t have to be a football expert to be excited about Williams’ pro upside. Ever since taking over for Spencer Rattler as a true freshman at Oklahoma in 2021, Williams has been very impressive and seems to still be improving.
First, Caleb Williams possesses the arm talent to make every throw in the book. He has also shown the ability to change speeds on his passes with a solid combination of bullet and touch passes on film.
A big reason why Williams is able to make so many different throws is due to his athletic ability. He has the straight-line speed to break off big runs when needed, but it is Williams’ ability to extend plays with his feet, and improvise, that might very well be the signal-caller’s most appealing trait.
Given Williams’ immense arm talent, and ability to make throws from various platforms and arm angles, it would be easy to throw the gunslinger label on him. However, even with one of the highest explosive play rates in college football, Williams has done a great job of taking care of the football.
Another underrated aspect of Williams’ game is his feel in the pocket. While there is the occasional bad sack, Williams has mostly shown an advanced understanding of working the pocket. Considering how often college quarterbacks that play outside of structure struggle with this, the USC QB has a leg up in 2024 NFL Draft talks.
Listed at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds, Williams would be considered slightly undersized for the NFL level. Even if he hasn’t shown much trouble seeing the middle of the field in college, NFL front offices have proven to favor bigger quarterbacks.
The prototypical size for a franchise quarterback in the NFL generally falls closer to the 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5 range. This could favor other quarterbacks who will be NFL Draft eligible in 2024. North Carolina’s Drake Maye is a great example of this archetype.
Williams’ combination of physical and mental traits is hard to come by and makes him a fairly easy evaluation. Of all the elite quarterbacks Lincoln Riley has worked with, there is reason to believe that Caleb Williams is the most talented yet.
A lot can happen in the next 18 months, but a strong finish to his 2022 season could give Caleb Williams a comfortable lead over the rest of the QB class in the 2024 NFL Draft.