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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — The possibility of not being drafted No. 1 in April is not a scenario USC quarterback Caleb Williams has given much thought to.
Speaking Friday at the NFL combine, Williams was asked whether he would feel disappointed if he didn’t hear his name called by the Chicago Bears at the top of the draft order.
“It’s not a thought in my mind,” Williams said. “I don’t think that I’m not gonna be No. 1. I think I put in all the hard work, all of the time, effort, energy into being that. I don’t think of a Plan B. That’s kind of how I do things in my life. I don’t think of a Plan B, stay on Plan A and then when things don’t work out, find a way to make Plan A work.”
The Bears own the No. 1 pick in the draft and met with Williams on Wednesday evening in Indianapolis. The quarterback said the limited time he had with the Chicago brass wasn’t enough for him to know the team’s plan for developing him but offered that he was not intimidated by the thought of being drafted by an organization that has struggled throughout its 103-year history to develop franchise quarterbacks.
“No. Not at all. I don’t compare myself to the other guys that are there or have been there,” Williams said. “I think I’m my own player. I tend to like to create history and rewrite history.”
Earlier this week, Williams told ESPN that he would be “excited” if he’s drafted by the Bears with the No. 1 pick and pushed back on any notion that he would request a trade or wants to play elsewhere.
“I don’t really go out and speak much, but this was important to me that I wanted to put something out before I came here, especially with all the noise and things like that that have been brewing and things like that before I came here,” he said. “And now since I’ve been here a bunch of stuff comes out. Just wanted to put something out so everyone knew exactly where it was coming from.”
When he does meet with the Bears around his pro day and during a top-30 visit before the draft, Williams has one pressing question he needs answered: “Do you want to win?” Williams said.
Williams will not do medical examinations with teams in Indianapolis and has opted out of several portions of the on-field workouts Saturday.
“I’ll be doing the medical stuff, just not here in Indy,” Williams said. “I’ll be doing them at the team interviews. Not 32 teams can draft me. There is only one of me. So the teams that I go to for my visit, those teams will have the medical and that’s it.”
“I played around 30-something games, I believe,” Williams said. “Go ahead and go watch real live ball of me and see how I am as a competitor.”