There will be no drama at the top of the draft Thursday night.
USC quarterback Caleb Williams will be the No. 1 overall pick. He knows it. The Bears know it. Everyone knows it.
“As a kid, I did dream of this,” Williams said Wednesday, via Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune. “I set my goals. I went after it. I got it. I’m here. I’m ready for the moment.”
Williams began dreaming of this day when he was 10: He will hear his name called. He will don a Bears baseball cap. He will hug Commissioner Roger Goodell. He will pose for photos with the No. 1 Bears jersey.
Williams called it “surreal.”
“I’m really ready,” Williams said. “Because I want to get back to a football team. I haven’t been on a football team since Nov. 18 [for his last game at USC]. So, that has probably been the toughest part for me. It’s something I really want to get back to. Get back in the locker room, be around the guys, be involved every single day and let it rip.”
Williams has had dinner with future teammates, including T.J. Edwards, DJ Moore and Cole Kmet, and he has spent enough time with General Manager Ryan Poles and coach Matt Eberflus the past three months to cement a relationship.
“It’s been fun to be around them,” Williams said of Poles and Eberflus. “They’re very detailed. They always have a plan. And they seem like they’re very routine-like, which is how I’ve been throughout my whole life.”
The hard part begins Friday on the first day of the rest of his career.
