When wide receiver Kalif Raymond signed with the Bears this offseason, he said his decision ultimately came down to wanting to play for Ben Johnson, who previously coached Raymond in Detroit. Johnson knows what Raymond can do in his offense, but Johnson also knows what Raymond can do as a team leader.
The leadership element has been evident to quarterback Caleb Williams, who said Raymond talked to him during a frustrating practice about how the rest of the team is looking to him to stay positive and set the right example of how to shake off frustrations.
“Leaf has only been here for a couple couple months or so,” Williams said of Raymond. “Leaf came up to me, there was a day I wasn’t having the best practice, so I got I got really frustrated. Leaf came up to me and said, ‘Everybody’s looking at you.’ And that really resonated for me.”
Williams said he tries to adopt a stoic mindset of controlling the things he can and not getting rattled by the things he can’t control, and he credited Raymond for keeping him on that mindset.
“I want to be as stoic as possible, good, bad, or indifferent,” Williams said. “Not be too high or too low for the guys, and so when he said that to me, it stuck with me, and it bothered me and so just every day having that type of mindset: Be as stoic as possible, be as strong as possible for the guys because they’re they’re looking at me. And it takes a lot to do that because it’s such a passionate — the energy in the sport is is so strong, but it’s important to me, it’s important to the guys, and it’s important to Coach.”
If Raymond makes Williams a better franchise quarterback, then he’s earning that new contract beyond what he contributes on the field.
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