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The Tennessee Titans will kick off the 2023 NFL season with a test against top overall pick Caleb Williams and his new-look Chicago Bears. This encounter will spotlight a decade-long trend of highly drafted quarterbacks struggling out of the gate.
In recent history, first-overall quarterbacks in their Week 1 starts have not precisely been putting up Ws, with the likes of Bryce Young, Trevor Lawrence, and Joe Burrow all failing to enter victory lane. The trend reaches even further back to 2002 when David Carr became the last No.
1 QB selected overall who won his opening day start. Kyler Murray just tied, but before that, the record was officially a dreadful 0-9-1 since these quarterbacks became all the rage. Heading into Sunday's tilt in Chicago against the Bears, Williams's spotlight grows brighter after Next Gen Stats gave him a draft score of near-perfection.
His 96 overall is second all-time, dating back to the evaluation model implemented in 2003, promising a long and productive NFL career.
Callahan Praises Caleb Williams
Tennessee head coach Brian Callahan said he is a big fan of Williams and knows what it means to be that high pick.
"He's everything a No. 1 pick you would expect to be," Callahan told The Tennessean. "You have to treat him as such and treat him with that kind of respect. Obviously you have to earn that in this league. He's got to do it in regular-season games.
I just hope it isn't in the first week." Williams showed flashes of the same ability in Washington this preseason that made him a star at USC, making plays when they became dysfunctional. "I'm a huge fan of Caleb Williams and what he did at USC," Callahan said.
"I've watched him over the years. Really dynamic player. It's really fun as a fan of quarterbacks to watch him play." To try to test William, the Titans have their first team coming into town with a new look secondary. There's a good chance that Aranda will get creative with coverages and pressures to screw with him, as the rookie has seen pretty vanilla stuff and mostly guys who won't be in uniform come next week.
They are going to need this strategic calibration as they look to extend their streak of rookies and get a win in week one.
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