DETROIT – In yet another draft highlighting the rise of Black quarterbacks in the NFL, the Chicago Bears chose former USC star passer Caleb Williams with the first overall selection Thursday night, and Jayden Daniels and Michael Penix Jr. also were top-10 picks.
In a long-expected move, the Bears acquired the rights of a player whom they view as a generational talent and the cornerstone of the franchise’s future success. The Washington Commanders and Atlanta Falcons now believe they’re also well-positioned long-term at the most important position in sports.
One pick after the Bears got Williams, the Commanders selected Daniels, the former LSU star and 2023 Heisman winner, second overall. Then in the first surprising move of the seven-round, three-day draft, the Falcons used the eighth overall pick to take Penix, who was the runner-up to Daniels in the 2023 Heisman Trophy voting.
Penix throws a picturesque deep ball and led Washington to the College Football Playoff National Championship game last season, in which it lost to Michigan and finished 14-1. Largely on the strength of his outstanding pro day (he displayed elite arm talent as well as impressive athleticism), Penix shot up draft boards and was widely considered a first-round pick entering the process, NFL player-personnel officials told Andscape last week.
Nonetheless, it was a shocker that the Falcons moved quickly to take Penix after signing Pro Bowl passer Kirk Cousins in free agency March 13, guaranteeing Cousins $100 million. Regardless of their commitment to Cousins, Penix is simply too talented to pass up, Falcons officials believe.
Three Black signal-callers also were selected in the opening round of the 2023 draft. Bryce Young went first overall to the Carolina Panthers, the Houston Texans chose C.J. Stroud with the second pick, and the Indianapolis Colts selected Anthony Richardson with the fourth. The 1999 draft was the only other one in which as many as three Black signal-callers were chosen in the first round.
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Williams is considered the draft’s biggest prize.
A big-play specialist in college, especially while improvising outside of the pocket, Williams, 22, won the 2022 Heisman Trophy as a true sophomore at USC. Playing behind a porous offensive line as a junior, Williams didn’t perform as well statistically, and the Trojans failed to meet expectations.
But the Bears were undeterred in their pursuit of Williams, believing he possesses both the physical ability and smarts to be a difference-maker. From the outset of the club’s offseason draft preparation, the Bears wrote Williams’ name atop the team’s main draft board, and they never moved it.
Now, the Bears have their guy. And make no mistake, how Williams – the seventh Black quarterback selected first overall in draft history and second in as many drafts – fares at football’s highest level likely will define the tenure of general manager Ryan Poles.
Williams is eager to get to work for the Bears.
“My goal isn’t to break … records. My goal is to get as far into [the playoffs as] I can,” Williams said during a news conference Thursday after being drafted. “That’s the point of playing football — to win championships. It’s the reason why I play.”
On paper, Williams enters an ideal situation for a rookie quarterback.
With their second pick (No. 9 overall) in the first round Thursday night, the Bears continued to build around Williams by drafting gifted Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze, 21, who helped Penix shine in college. On March 14, Chicago acquired veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers. Odunze and Allen join a receiving corps led by wideout D.J. Moore, who in his first season with Chicago last season set career-highs in several categories: 96 receptions, 1,364 yards receiving and eight touchdowns.
Steady Chicago tight end Cole Kmet is coming off personal-bests with 73 catches and 719 receiving yards. To bolster their rushing attack, the Bears signed running back D’Andre Swift in free agency. Last season with the Philadelphia Eagles, Swift set a career mark with 1,049 rushing yards.
Considered a potential No. 1 overall pick in this draft by some NFL officials since his standout freshman season at Oklahoma, Williams, who followed former Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley to USC in 2022, has been a fast-riser since his days at Gonzaga College High School in Washington. Not surprisingly, there was pre-draft speculation that the Commanders, who are in their first year under a new ownership group headed by Josh Harris, would move aggressively in an attempt to acquire the top pick from Chicago to get Williams.
Poles never seriously entertained trading the first overall pick, multiple NFL officials told Andscape, and his experience in his previous job likely contributed to his thinking. Formerly a longtime member of the Kansas City Chiefs’ player-personnel department, Poles was the team’s director of college scouting when the team moved up in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft, with the help of the Buffalo Bills, to select quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Poles was present in meetings when his then-colleague Brett Veach, who’s now Kansas City’s general manager, for years pushed their superiors to do whatever it took to move into position to draft Mahomes. Convinced that Mahomes was a generational talent, Veach was willing to stake his career on his recommendation.
The rest is history.
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Similarly, Poles is staking his reputation on Williams. Poles cleared the path for Williams by trading passer Justin Fields, Chicago’s first-round pick in 2021, to the Pittsburgh Steelers in March for a conditional sixth-round pick in next year’s draft and a potential fourth-rounder. Poles did not draft Fields.
If Poles’ predecessor had selected Mahomes in 2017, Poles might not be the Bears’ top football-operations official. Instead, with the second overall pick in that draft, then-Chicago general manager Ryan Pace chose quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Mahomes went to the Chiefs at No. 10. To say the least, Pace chose poorly.
With the selection of Williams, the Bears now have Black men at the highest levels of leadership from the front office to the field. In January 2022, Poles was named the team’s general manager. In January 2023, Kevin Warren, formerly commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, became the Bears’ team president and CEO, and only the fifth African American club president in NFL history. Last week, the Bears announced the hiring of Ted Crews, formerly an executive vice president with the Chiefs, as their chief administrative officer and a special adviser to Warren.
In Kansas City, Crews worked closely with Mahomes, coordinating his media schedule, among other things. Williams figures to benefit from Crews’ presence in Chicago.
Williams will strive to be everything the Bears hope he will be and much more, his high school coach said.
“Let me tell you something, man, this cat is just different,” longtime Gonzaga football coach Randy Trivers told Andscape in August 2023. “It’s like in basketball. There are a lot of people who can score in the first three quarters. But in a close game [late in the fourth quarter], do you want that ball in your hands? In baseball, do you want to be the hitter in the ninth inning with the bases loaded, [two out] and your team is down by a run? Or do you want to be the pitcher in that situation [up by a run].
“Caleb wants to be that guy. He wants to have the ball in his hands. And he has the unique combination of humility and confidence that makes guys want to follow him. They say, ‘He believes in us, so we’re gonna believe in him and keep fighting.’ Really, it’s kind of like Star Wars. This dude isn’t a Padawan [an apprentice in The Force]. His midi-chlorians [which measure potential in The Force] are through the roof. He’s not Baby Yoda. He’s a Jedi. Man, he’s a Skywalker.”
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The Commanders hope Daniels, 23, is strong with “The Force” as well.
Daniels, who produced eye-opening statistics both as a passer and runner at LSU, is the fourth quarterback selected by the Commanders in the first round in the past 19 years. He joins Jason Campbell (2005), Robert Griffin III (2012) and Dwayne Haskins (2019) on the list.
For the Commanders and their fans, Daniels represents their hope for a new, prosperous era after the disastrous 24-year tenure of former owner Daniel Snyder. Daniels knows he’ll have a lot on his shoulders.
“I was putting the [Commanders’] hat on. It’s a surreal moment just going in there and just knowing my role,” Daniels said during a news conference here. “I’ll be able to lead a grown men with families and stuff like that, but just be myself at the end of the day. That’s what they’re going to expect. They expect a hard worker.”
The significance of being a Black quarterback in the NFL, during a time in which Black quarterbacks are the league’s biggest stars, is not lost on Daniels.
“It’s dope,” Daniels said. “I’ve been watching them and watching those guys perform at a high level. Guys like C.J. Stroud, Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts, those type of guys. And now being able to be a part of the family and be able to compete against them … it’s amazing to be a part of that.”
Quarterback guru Quincy Avery, for one, believes the Commanders made a wise choice in picking the dual-threat passer, who played his final two seasons in college at LSU after three seasons at Arizona State.
“He’s someone who’s truly a special talent,” the renowned quarterback coach told Andscape in a phone interview. “He showed the biggest rise of any quarterback recently, with the exception of [2020 No. 1 overall pick] Joe Burrow, from his junior season to his senior season [in college].
“We saw him be able to do things not only from the pocket, but also with his legs. He adds a dynamic element to the quarterback position that we’ve rarely seen. … He can really be a game-changer, because he can do everything both from the pocket and outside the pocket. Those sorts of talents are truly hard to find.”
Penix, 23, thrived in two seasons at Washington after playing four seasons at Indiana. As a senior at Washington during the 1977-78 season, Warren Moon, the only Black quarterback to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, led the team to a conference championship, he helped it win the Rose Bowl and he was selected as the conference’s co-player of the year. Moon believes his fellow Washington alumnus will succeed in the NFL.
“He throws the ball better than anybody in his draft, hands down,” Moon told Andscape in a phone interview. “If you watched him play throughout the season, watched him at the combine or watched him at his pro day, you see nobody spins it like him.”
Williams, Daniels and Penix have joined a league now run by Black quarterbacks. And soon, they’ll get opportunities to prove they’re ready to be in charge, too.
Andscape senior HBCU writer Mia Berry contributed to this report.
