Caleb Williams makes a bold decision about medicals at the scouting combine
Projected No. 1 pick Caleb Williams made the decision to NOT throw at the 2024 NFL scouting combine and instead do so at his pro day. And with the Chicago Bears likely getting ready to take him at No. 1 overall, they will have to wait a little bit to see him throw.
He joins Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye as quarterbacks who have made that decision and all three are considered to go in the top 5. But on Thursday, ahead of his media day at the combine, Williams made another surprising decision.
Per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Williams will attend the combine but not do medical examinations with teams. He’s believed to be the first player in combine history to not go through the medical examination portion.
Caleb Williams, the presumed No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL draft, is attending the NFL Combine without doing medical examinations with teams, multiple sources tell CBS Sports.
One league source believes Williams is the first combine invitee to attend the event after declining the medical exams, which are typically considered to be one of the most essential elements of the combine.
In accepting his invitation, Williams also did not sign off on having his medical records shared with all 32 teams, sources say.
There is another important part to this as well.
Jones notes in his article that ESPN is reporting that Williams will provide medicals to teams he meets with in the predraft process.
ESPN first reported that Williams did not plan to do medical testing at the combine, and further reported he plans to submit to medical exams with teams with which he meets individually during the pre-draft process.
Technically, National Football Scouting (NFS) runs the combine as a third party for the NFL. In recent years, the groups have heard more from players who wish to truncate the medical examinations.
Williams has already had some meetings with teams including the Bears in Indianapolis.
Why is Caleb Williams avoiding the medicals?
This is an important decision by Williams but one that really isn’t shocking in any way if we really think about it.
Players over the years have complained about the process including the length of time for medical examinations as well as the redundancy of having doctors from all teams examine the same player and ask the same (or similar) questions.
Now, Williams is the first to do this but it’s likely we will see more players do so in the coming years.
Should Bears fans be worried about this? Or is it Williams just being a ‘different’ prospect as he gets ready for the rest of the pre-draft process?
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