We all know about Caleb Williams’ natural abilities. He’s got a strong arm and can make every type of throws, either from the pocket on on the move:
His legs are always a concern for any defense:
But what happens if Williams starts playing the position with more precision?
We got a glimpse of that in Week 1 against the Panthers. Williams was an efficient 21 of 29 for 269 yards with 2 TD passes, no INTs, as well as 65 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns on 10 carries.
Sure, some of the blame can be placed at the feet of the Panthers defense, which couldn’t stop anything (they happened to allow 291 rushing yards) and had all sorts of issues in coverage.
But Williams played with a little more polish than we saw a year ago. He took what the defense gave him a bit more frequently, keeping the offense on schedule:
Then you have a throw like this. To his left, Williams had a hook/dig combo. The read is the underneath flat defender. The only defender that can really take the play away is the middle linebacker.
Williams recognized that he was cheating to the 3-receiver side a bit during his drop. He kept his eyes on the Mike to hold him, then hit his back foot and threw the ball into a huge void to his left:
He delivered that ball on time and in rhythm, releasing it before his receiver was out of his break.
Take another look from the end zone angle so you can see how Williams held the middle linebacker before making this throw:
I’m more encouraged by these types of plays than the highlight scrambles. If he continues to play with this same sense of timing each week, the league is in trouble.