Caleb Williams has made a number of impressive throws since the Bears made him the first overall pick of this year’s draft, but there’s more to playing quarterback in the NFL than the ability to sling the ball down the field.
There are many little things that are part of the puzzle as well, including the seemingly simple task of snapping the ball. Williams worked out of the shotgun and without a cadence for most of his time in college, which has created some problems for him and the rest of the Bears offense as they go through OTA practices.
On Tuesday, head coach Matt Eberflus said it is an area that the team needs to clean up.
“Something we still have to work on, as you guys saw today, is the cadence,"Eberflus said, via NBCSportsChicago.com. “We saw guys jump offsides — I think there were half a dozen of the time — so that’s something that needs to be worked out. That is something that needs to be addressed, and worked on, and improved on here in the next couple of days. We’d like to get that cleaned up. It’s the whole team. The whole offensive unit. We’ve got to get on the same page to make sure we’re [not committing] pre-snap penalties, not getting behind the sticks. You guys saw today that we were first-and-15, second-and-15. It’s hard to operate that way.”
Eberflus said the goal is to “use cadence as a weapon on offense” because of the chance to slow defenders getting off the ball or jump too early, so it is likely to remain a focus in Chicago all the way up to Week One.
