NFL Network’s Kurt Warner on Whether Bears QB Caleb Williams is “Elite”

Caleb Williams is playing as well as any quarterback in the NFC right now. Kurt Warner still isn't ready to hand him the word "elite."

Rich asked the question straight. Has Williams reached elite quarterback status? Warner, the NFL Network analyst, explained that he holds the word to a different standard.

"There's only four or five maybe at any one time that fall into that elite category," Warner said. "And I'm not ready to put Caleb there yet."

That's not a knock. Warner was clear about how much he likes what he's seeing. "I love the ascension," he said. "I love what I see from him."

What stands out most to Warner is how Williams has played since coming back from his injury. Normally, Warner said, a player returns and you expect him to be a little sluggish and rusty. Instead, he's seen "a quarterback that to me has more command in the pocket, has more patience in the pocket since he came back from the injury."

Warner even floated a theory. He has no idea whether the hamstring forced Williams to stay inside the pocket during his recovery, but if it did, the result is a quarterback who has gotten more comfortable there. Williams knows what he's looking at, Warner said. If he doesn't like it, he gets to his checkdown, and he only takes off when the play truly breaks down.

Warner, who called the game against Seattle, pointed to two examples. On the first drive, with nothing open and plenty of time, Williams hung in the pocket, then rolled right and made a nice throw to Loveland for a first down. Later, with the pocket collapsing and someone grabbing his leg, Williams pulled free and made another play.

"But that's about all you're seeing from him," Warner said. Williams isn't panicking when his first read isn't there or taking off trying to create, which Warner said we saw at times in college and early in his NFL career. "That to me has been the biggest breakthrough that I've seen from him."

He tied that directly to the numbers. Williams' 71 percent completion rate, in Warner's view, comes from that mindset. "Okay, I don't have to run around and try to make a hero play, throw my checkdown, get a completion, and let's keep the chains going."

Warner saw it most clearly on that opening drive against Seattle, a 17-play march built on "just taking what's in front of you."

"He's playing really good football," Warner said. "I'm just not ready to put him in that elite category yet."

So who does make the cut? Rich asked Warner for his list.

Warner named guys who have done it over and over again. "The Josh Allens and the Joe Burrows and the Patrick Mahomes," he said, plus "Lamar Jackson when he's healthy," and "a Matthew Stafford when he's going good."

Those are the quarterbacks Warner can hang his hat on, because he knows exactly what they are at their best. And he explained why Williams has to wait his turn.

"You don't just take one or two games and go, it looks pretty good, now he's elite," Warner said. "They got to earn the right to get into that club."