Caleb Williams is preparing for his sophomore NFL season, but he had to deal with a media storm in recent weeks.
An report from ESPN reporter Seth Wickersham claimed that, before the Bears drafted Williams first overall in 2024, the quarterback and his dad explored many options to potentially avoid Chicago. As the consensus No. 1 overall pick last year, Williams and his team reportedly potentially used leverage to try and direct the quarterback's landing spot.
However, Williams has since stressed how much he wants to be a Bear, and that includes on Wednesday when he addressed this report for the first time. Here's what Williams said at his press conference.
Caleb Williams responds to pre-draft report
On Wednesday, Caleb Williams addressed that ESPN report that he didn't want the Bears to draft him.
"We're focused on the present and we're focused on now, we're focused on getting this ship moving in the right direction," Williams said. "For this to come out, it's been a distraction."
Williams addressed many areas of the report, including that he preferred that the Vikings draft him instead of the Bears. While Williams made sure to praise Minnesota's coaching staff, he stressed that those ideas were just he and his team assessing all of his options.
"I had a good visit at Minnesota with Kevin O'Connell," he said. "But something that keeps getting lost...I went on that visit first, came here, then after I came here, I went back home, talked to my dad, and all of the things were supposed to be these big things, that everybody's been talking about recently, never happened in the sense of, they were all thoughts."
Lengthy opening statement from Caleb Williams, who addresses the information about his rookie season that he called a “distraction” from the last 2 weeks and what he wants to emphasize about wanting to be in Chicago. pic.twitter.com/mxwEJpbDpA
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) May 28, 2025
Instead, Williams stressed that his visit with the Bears cemented his desire to go to Chicago. That is despite the Bears' poor history of quarterback play, which includes never having a 4,000-yard passer.
"After I came to my visit here, it was a deliberate and determined answer that I had is that I wanted to come here," he said, "I wanted to come here and be the guy and be a part and be a reason why the Chicago Bears turn this thing around."
Williams closed his press conference by thanking a bunch of people who have helped him up until this point, including former coaches Matt Eberflus and Shane Waldron.
