MOBILE, Ala. — Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia was talking about his height — he was measured at just 5 feet, 9 inches at the Senior Bowl— when he argued there are successful NFL quarterbacks who aren’t that much taller than him.
Did the Heisman Trophy runner-up mean Bears quarterback Caleb Williams?
“What is he, like 6-1?” Pavia said with a smile. “I think that’s tall.”
Williams carries himself like someone even bigger. Pavia tries to do the same.
Neither has ever been short of confidence.
“I’ve never met him, but I think he’s got that mindset that, ‘No one can touch me on this field because I’m the best player — every time, I tilt the field my way … ‘” Pavia said. “That’s what I like to think my game is — ‘No one’s better than me, I’m going to tilt the field my way.’”
He watches film of Williams for more than just confidence tips, though.
“He’s, like, freaky athletic,” Pavia said. “That’s who’s highlights I watch. Trying to study his game.”
He’s memorized some of Williams most mind-bending plays. Pavia still can’t believe that Williams made the “Jumpman” fourth-down throw to receiver Rome Odunze in the Bears’ first-round playoff win against the Packers. Williams rolled left and seemed to float in the air as he rifled a completion down the left sideline.
“Maybe Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen make that,” he said. “He’s got that mindset.”
A year ago, putting Williams in the same sentence as the Chiefs and Bills stars — perhaps the two best quarterbacks of his generation — would have sounded like blasphemy. This offseason, it seems logical — in the sense of the ability to make impossible throws.
Williams’ high-wire act of a season — he led the Bears to seven fourth-quarter comebacks and posted even more did-you-just-see-that plays — has changed the way the Bears are viewed around the league. And among those who are about to enter it.
That stands to pay dividends for the Bears this offseason. Money talks in free agency, but a veteran looking to chase postseason success will actually consider the Bears. Pass-catchers will want to play alongside Williams — and for head coach and play-caller Ben Johnson. Even defenders know that success in the league depends on stellar quarterback play. The Bears have a good chance of getting that next year, presuming Williams continues to improve.
On the trade market, the Bears might find players more willing to rework their contracts as part of a deal to play alongside Williams. Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby has praised Williams’ dynamism over and over again, including after his game-tying touchdown pass to Cole Kmet against the Rams.
“That was one of the craziest plays I’ve seen ever — literally,” he said on his podcast.
If Crosby were to ever become a trade candidate, the Bears quarterback would be part of the appeal to come to Chicago.
Then there are the college prospects itching to play with Williams. Houston tight end Tanner Koziol has watched Williams plenty of times this year. The Bloomingdale native is a lifelong Bears fan. After calling the 2025 season the most exciting one he can remember, Koziol joked it also might have been the last time he could cheer for the Bears without guilt — before he starts collecting paychecks from another NFL team.
That is, unless the Bears draft him.
“That’d be a dream …” said Koziol, who had 727 receiving yards for the Cougars last year. “It’s really fun to see the Bears have this electric of an offense. Chicago deserves it. I think Chicago being good at football is great for football.”
It’s been good for Koziol, too, even if he had to watch the Bears’ playoff game against the Rams from a hotel room in Austin, Texas, where he’s been training for the NFL Scouting Combine.
“There might have been a noise complaint,” he said, laughing.
Ja’Kobi Lane was cheering along, too. The USC wide receiver played alongside Williams and remains close to him. He wasn’t surprised by Williams’ second-year success.
“It’s no shocker,” said Lane, who had 745 receiving yards last year. “Being able to be in the building with him and be great friends with him, it’s just a product of all the work he puts in. He’s one of the most hard-working people I’ve known.”
Asked what Williams was like away from the spotlight, Lane said the quarterback is always the same person.
“What you see on the TV is real,” he said. “I think everybody has a great idea of what he can do. Naturally, the person he is, that’s what separates him from everybody else. Most of the time quarterbacks are really high on themselves, but Caleb’s a really even-keeled guy.
“He knows people are talking about him but he doesn’t really listen.”
The rest of the league, though, has been listening.
“He’s a competitor, he’s a playmaker,” Koziol said. “And he’s one of those guys you just want to play alongside.”
