Caleb Williams era begins at Bears rookie minicamp

Nam Y. Huh/AP

Mitch Trubisky arrived at Halas Hall for Bears rookie minicamp in 2017 in his grandmother’s 1997 Toyota Camry with 170,000 miles on it. A millionaire-to-be driving a clunker with hubcaps missing was part of the common-man charm that endeared former general manager Ryan Pace to Trubisky and compelled Pace to trade up from No. 3 to No. 2 in the draft to get him, instead of taking the chance that he might have to settle for Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson.

It is a virtual certainty that Caleb Williams will not make that kind of entrance when he arrives for rookie minicamp that begins Friday morning at Halas Hall. On the contrary, Williams is the face of the 21st-century athlete — an NIL millionaire with a swanky Los Angeles penthouse, his own brand, his own website, multiple sponsorship deals and a knack for attracting the camera, if not finding it, and unabashedly enjoying it. He’s more likely to arrive in Tarik Cohen’s Polaris Slingshot or Curtis Enis’ black Hummer than Trubisky’s 20-year-old Camry. His charm is that he loves being Caleb Williams.

Be that as it may, the excitement over Williams’ appearance at Halas Hall this weekend is rooted in his football identity — he’s the best quarterback prospect the Bears have ever had.

Williams was the No. 1 overall pick from USC in the recent NFL Draft, where six quarterbacks were taken among the first 12 picks — including 1-2-3. So good, the Bears didn’t dare to keep Justin Fields on the same roster — trading Fields to the Steelers for a conditional sixth-round draft pick to avoid an awkward locker room dynamic.

Williams comes to rookie minicamp as the Bears’ starting quarterback — a notable step up from the arrival of Trubisky, who was behind both Mike Glennon and Mark Sanchez in 2017, and Fields, who was behind Andy Dalton in 2021.

Rookie minicamp is mostly introductory and perfunctory — a bigger opportunity for tryout players to make the training camp roster than the top draft pick to show anything definitive.

But Williams’ gives this year’s rookie camp a little more pizzazz. Not only is he the Bears’ starting quarterback, but with wide receiver Rome Odunze — the No. 9 overall pick from Washington — this rookie minicamp will have a quarterback-receiver connection that should be a thing in the regular season.

It’s rarely that way at rookie minicamp. Fields throwing to sixth-round pick Dazz Newsome in 2021 was intriguing, but a long shot to become a real thing and it didn’t. Trubisky in 2017 had only undrafted and tryout receivers at his camp. Undrafted receiver Tanner Gentry made an impact at minicamp and made the 53-man roster, but only lasted one season, catching one pass from Trubisky for eight yards.

Williams and Odunze have become fast friends since being on the same flight to Detroit for the draft. On draft day, Williams felt comfortable enough with Odunze to crash the end of Odunze’s video media interview. It was a bro-hug bonding moment for both.

“It’s super exciting to be a teammate of his and to be along this journey together,” Odunze said of Williams, “something special and something that hopefully when we’re done with our careers we’ll look back as the first moment we realized we were teammates.”

Besides Williams and Odunze, the Bears have another likely regular-season contributor at rookie minicamp in punter Tory Taylor, a fourth-round draft pick from Iowa.

The Bears’ other draft picks — Yale offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie (third round) and Kansas defensive end Austin Booker (fifth round) also will participate. The camp also will be an opportunity for several undrafted free agents and tryout players, including Western Kentucky quarterback Austin Reed, Illinois defensive tackle Keith Randolph and University of British Columbia offensive tackle Theo Benedet.