Browns DC Jim Schwartz delivers a new Hall of Fame comparison for Caleb Williams, and it might be the most spot-on one yet
Some high praise that fits him perfectly.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is still working through the development process in his first season under head coach Ben Johnson and this new system, but prominent coaches around the league are starting to see the high-level talent coming out in his game.
Johnson himself noted earlier this week that Williams has the ability to make “most incredible plays I’ve ever seen in my life” and once he puts everything together he can be “a really dangerous quarterback in this league” running a really dangerous offense.
Williams has earned quite the handful of nicknames such as “Superman” or “Iceman” and recently “Houdini” but it’s been hard to pin down a real comparison for his style of play.
The most common comparison for Williams has been Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen with the way both players can be a dual-threat quarterback and how it took Allen a few years to reach his peak. The problem with that is Allen and Williams are totally different builds and totally different runners, I mean there’s a reason Allen now has the most rushing touchdowns by a QB.
On Thursday, while previewing the upcoming matchup against Williams and the Bears on Sunday, Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz offered another comparison and it might be the most accurate one we’ve heard yet.
Jim Schwartz compares Caleb Williams to HOF QB Fran Tarkenton
“Caleb, he looks like Fran Tarkenton out there sometimes,” Schwartz told reporters on Thursday. “He’s got eyes in the back of his head… He just has the ability to see them coming, somehow eyes in the back of his head, and make guys miss. And then expand it and extend plays. When he does, he threatens the entire field.”
Tarkenton, the former Minnesota Vikings legend and current Hall of Fame quarterback, might be the perfect comparison for Williams when factoring in his rushing ability. Most people might be too young to have ever watched Tarkenton play, myself included, but the stats speak for itself.
Tarkenton was a 9-time Pro Bowler in his career and was far from the kind of dual-threat quarterback we see in today’s game. But, he earned the nickname “The Scrambler” for a reason and yet he only had 376 rushing yards in his best single-season on the ground. It’s similar to how Williams is, he can hurt you with his legs if he does take off, but what he can do scrambling, extending plays, and then throwing really puts pressure on opposing defenses.
Just watch some of Tarkenton’s career highlights at some point today and tell me some of those scrambles and escape-ability doesn’t remind you of what Williams is doing out there.
This season alone, Williams leads the NFL with the longest time to throw among quarterbacks with 150 drop backs but has only been brought down 20 times and his 34 scrambles ranks 6th among all quarterbacks in the league.
More impressively, Williams’ 12.0 pressure-to-sack percentage ranks fourth among 29 QBs with 250+ drop backs. It’s insane the way he can handle pressure and find ways to escape and it’s doing it more and more consistently as the season has gone on.
“I don’t know, maybe [it’s] a sixth sense kind of thing,” Williams explained back in November. “I have no idea. In the moment and in those times, I just feel a little color or maybe feel the tackle getting edged, and I just try and get out of it and make a play.”
I’m sure it’s incredibly difficult for a coordinator or defensive players to go up against a player with that kind of ability and to fuel into the comparison even more, it took Tarkenton three years before finally earning his first Pro Bowl nod and he went on to have an illustrious career. It’s a great model for Williams to look up to throughout the remainder of his career.
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