EXCLUSIVE
‘Jared Goff but better’ – How Ben Johnson will turn Caleb Williams back into a Heisman Trophy winner
Caleb Williams was supposed to be better than Jayden Daniels.
Now it's Ben Johnson's turn to turn the No. 1 overall pick of the 2024 NFL Draft into the best young quarterback in the league.
4
The Chicago Bears pulled off a major coup by hiring Johnson as their new head coach and stealing away the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator at the same time.
But all the NFC North drama pales when compared to Johnson's pivotal role in Williams' early NFL development.
"I'm excited to see what Ben Johnson can do with a quarterback who's got all of Jared Goff's arm strength, if not more, but can also move around," Adam Hoge, Chicago Bears insider and podcaster, exclusively told talkSPORT's .
"There's so many more things that he can do with him."
READ MORE ON NFL
Williams, a former USC star and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner, was good as a rookie, but not close to great.
That lofty status was solely reserved for Daniels, who's rivaled Robert Griffin III as the best rookie QB in Washington's franchise history and could be in the Super Bowl on Monday morning.
Williams endured a roller coaster-like 2024, taking center stage during the draft but watching his head coach and offensive coordinator change while the Bears finished a disappointing 5-12.
When his rookie campaign was over, Williams cut his hair and jokingly dressed up as Neo from 'The Matrix' movies.
Most read in NFL
"That's why I have this suit on," Williams said. "Cause it felt like I was in the Matrix."
Johnson spent the last two years getting the best out of Goff, who became one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the league, while Detroit produced the top scoring offense (33.2 points) in the NFL.
4
4
4
The former Lions coach immediately acknowledged that the second-year promise of Williams is one of the main reasons he traded Detroit for Chicago.
"From what I've looked for in the Lions, just the fact that he uses pre-snap motion the way he does to put a quarterback in an advantageous position ," Hoge said.
"To understand what they're looking at, helping the quarterback diagnose the play, right?
"If Ben Johnson's trying to create the picture for him at the line of scrimmage and putting three guys in motion to the point that Jared Goff will say, 'Oh, I know exactly what I'm looking at,' and he can check to the right thing -- that's where Caleb still needs to get better."
Williams completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 3,541 yards and an 87.8 rating last season.
He was also sacked a league-high 68 times and had time-management issues.
Johnson could slow the game down for Williams -- similar to Kliff Kingsbury's work with Daniels -- and continue to simplify things for the Bears QB in 2025.
But it's also on Williams to understand that he's not in college anymore, and throwing the ball away is sometimes smarter than trying to do too much with a blitzing defense breaking through the line.
"Caleb Williams, if there's an area where he needs to improve, he's going to have to be able to get a lot better at understanding what he's looking at and making the right decisions," Hoge said.
"Look, he put up numbers, he looks awesome, the physical tools are all there. But he didn't always diagnose things the best at the line of scrimmage.
Read More on talkSPORT
"He also didn't have a lot of help around him. His offensive line's not very good, so they got to upgrade a lot of things around him, too.
"But he definitely has weapons to work with and the raw talent with Caleb is definitely there."
NFL expert says stealing Ben Johnson from Tom Brady was big but weakening Detroit Lions makes hire even bigger
Follow talkSPORT NFL on Facebook
for the latest breaking NFL news, exclusive video interviews, and the biggest talking points from around the league.
Our will also keep you across the very latest NFL news with exclusive access and our weekly 'Rundown' review show.
Topics