Ben Johnson Draws a Clear Line Between Caleb Williams and Aaron Rodgers, Sparking Hot Debate. DH
‘Probably not right now’ was Ben Johnson’s response when asked if Bears QB Caleb Williams resembles Aaron Rodgers.
As a young quarterback growing up, Caleb Williams might have looked up to Aaron Rodgers but he has a long way to go to reach the Steelers quarterback’s precision level.
This isn’t from Williams, but from his coach, Ben Johnson.
“Probably not right now,” Johnson said in an honest assessment. “(Rodgers is) elite right now at getting the ball out of his hands. If he doesn’t have the fastest snap-to-throw time in the league right now, he’s got to be close.
“He’s doing a really good job spitting it out. He’s accurate, I think our guy’s the same way, but we probably holds onto it a little bit more just where we are in the offense. We’re learning and we’re growing, I think we’ll gravitate more towards getting it out faster the more reps we have.”
Actually, Rodgers is getting it out of his hand faster than any quarterback in the NFL according to NFL Next Gen stats, at 2.59 seconds average time to throw.
Williams, in the meantime, is slowest in the entire NFL to get rid of it at 3.24 seconds.
It’s here where they need to start working most with Williams, although as long as he holds the ball on those magical spins out of the pocket to avoid sacks they might want to rethink that.
Regardless, Williams could use some of Rodgers’ fundamentally sound passing precision and accuracy. Williams’ completion percentage has plummeted to 59.7% (194 of 325). That’s almost 3 points lower than during his rookie year.
His passer rating is now 89.9, just 2.1 points better than last season.
Rodgers is at 66.4% completions (192 of 289), although his yards per attempt have taken a dip to 6.8. This can happen when you’re getting the ball out of your hand too fast.
Besides, Rodgers has the shortest intended air yards in the league at 5.7.
“There’s probably only a couple of quarterbacks in the world that have been able to spin the ball the way that he does,” Williams said of Rodgers. “Growing up as a kid, when you find and realize how hard it is to play this position you admire some of the things he’s been able to do over the long career he has had.”
Williams admitted he’d like to see his idol on the field Sunday.
“You always want their best out there,” Williams said. “He’s one of the best in the world, and he’s been one of the best in the world for however long he’s been in the league.
“You always want to go verse the best when you play. I’ll hopefully get to say what’s up to him, shake his hand after.”
