Chicago cornerback Jaylon Johnson has been with the Bears since they drafted him in 2020, and he’s faced a lot of quarterbacks on the practice field during that time. Perhaps surprisingly, he doesn’t necessarily view Caleb Williams as the best of those quarterbacks.
In what might be considered damning with faint praise, Johnson talked up the Bears’ offense when asked about training camp practices, but he suggested that Williams isn’t the best Bears quarterback he’s practiced against, just the best since Nick Foles was in Chicago during Johnson’s first two seasons.
“Honestly, this is probably the best offense I’ve had in seven years, as far as going against them, for sure. They’ve got a lot of speed,” Johnson said. “Caleb’s the best quarterback I’ve had, again, since I feel like maybe Nick Foles, if you want to go back that far. Just as far as slinging it, I feel like he’s definitely doing his thing, you can see the accuracy, you can see the confidence, throwing the ball in tight windows is something that’s stood out to me. Top to bottom they’re a confident group. They believe in each other, believe in what they’re doing. That’s what we need to go against on defense. They know what we’re doing, they challenge us, we go after them, it’s going to be a fun camp.”
Foles had some stellar moments in his NFL career, making the Pro Bowl in his first season as the Eagles’ primary starter in 2013, and winning Super Bowl MVP for the Eagles after the 2017 season. But that’s not the Foles Johnson practiced against. Johnson was comparing Williams to the Foles who spent two years in Chicago late in his career, primarily as a backup to Mitchell Trubisky, Andy Dalton and Justin Fields.
That makes it a strange comparison. The Bears only won three games started by Foles during his two seasons as Johnson’s teammate. The Bears won 11 games in the regular season and one in the playoffs last year. That apparently isn’t enough for Johnson to declare Williams the best quarterback he’s practiced against in Chicago, without exception.
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