Practice in the NFL shouldn't be easy, and it won't be for Chicago Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams at training camp this summer.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus explained that Williams won't see any of Chicago's backup defenders when he's on the field. Instead, it will be starters vs. starters; Williams and the Bears ones on offense will battle Chicago's ones on defense.
"Caleb is a talent, a very good talent, and his game will go to where it needs to be," Eberflus said. "I want him to see that (the starting defense) in front of him, the windows closing, the variation of what we do on defense. I want him to see that day in and day out so when he gets to play somebody else, it'll be, ok, I've been here, done that."
Iron sharpens iron. #DaBears https://t.co/wJ6oZ4jQpt
— Bryan Perez (@BryanPerezNFL) June 8, 2024
I love this coaching philosophy. There's no reason not to take advantage of this team's likely top-10 defense and use it as a way to expedite Caleb Williams' learning curve. The looks he'll get in practice, with Montez Sweat barrelling down on him from the edge and cornerbacks like Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon on his receivers' hip pockets will be as close to a Sunday simulation as any quarterback could hope for.
Indeed, the threat of breaking a rookie's confidence does exist if every practice involves a series of missed throws, panicked passes and poor reads. An intimidating defense certainly has the potential to do that to Williams as he transitions to the NFL. But it's clear Eberflus has an incredible amount of confidence in Williams, which feels very different than how this and other regimes have treated Chicago Bears quarterbacks in the past.