The New York Giants might be bracing for a gauntlet of a season, but they’re not the ones at the center of the NFL’s latest drama. That honor goes to Caleb Williams—because apparently, we were this close to seeing him recreate the most infamous quarterback draft power move since Eli Manning told the Chargers “absolutely not” in 2004.
According to a new book by ESPN’s Seth Wickersham, American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, Caleb Williams and his camp didn’t just have cold feet about being drafted by the Chicago Bears last year. They actively explored ways to dodge getting picked there entirely—going as far as consulting labor lawyers and even flirting with the idea of skipping the NFL draft altogether in favor of signing with the UFL.
Apparently, they were trying to avoid Chicago like the plague.
Caleb’s father, Carl Williams, put it plainly: “Chicago is the place quarterbacks go to die.” That’s not subtle. It’s also not entirely wrong. Ask Mitchell Trubisky. Or Justin Fields. Or Jay Cutler. Or basically anyone not named Sid Luckman, which—news flash—was eight decades ago.
Caleb Williams nearly went full-Eli Manning to avoid the Bears
If all this is giving you deja vu, it's because it should. Eli Manning famously strong-armed his way out of San Diego in 2004, refusing to play for the Chargers and ultimately landing with the Giants in a blockbuster trade. It was controversial, sure—but it also worked. Two Super Bowls and one Hall-of-Fame-worthy career later, no one in New York regrets how that played out. That's for sure. Do it again.
Now, Williams didn’t go quite that far. But he came close. According to Wickersham, Caleb and his father reached out to Archie Manning (yes, Eli's dad) for guidance. They considered launching a full-on media blitz to blow up his Bears fit before the draft.
The plan was to create enough noise to force Chicago’s hand and land with a team like the Minnesota Vikings, where Caleb reportedly said, “I need to go to the Vikings.” Well, the Vikings just so happen to be hated division rivals with the Bears, so that's hilarious. At least the Giants aren't in the same conference as the Chargers. That's brutal. That would be like Malik Nabers saying I won't come to NY, send me to Dallas.
But unlike Eli, Caleb didn’t follow through. After visiting Chicago, he decided he could help fix the franchise. That’s noble. Bold... brave, even. But it’s a different kind of legacy than the one Eli built—one that started with a QB telling a franchise they weren’t good enough for him, and proving he was right.
In the end, the Bears held firm. They drafted Caleb anyway. He had a rocky rookie year, went through two fired coaches, and got sacked 68 times. Now, he enters Year 2 with a new head coach in Ben Johnson and an entirely new offensive system. Whether he turns the Bears around remains to be seen. But one thing’s for sure: for a moment, we almost saw the return of unadulterated draft-night madness.
We almost got Eli 2.0. And for Giants fans who remember how that story ended, it’s pretty wild to think how close Caleb Williams came to doing exactly that to some other team. If anything, it'll make their matchup in Week 10 with Chicago infinitely more interesting.