Caleb Williams

Teams had ‘really positive' meetings with Caleb Williams: report

Ian Rapoport reiterated the Bears are likely to take Williams with the No. 1 pick

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At the NFL Combine, teams around the league got their first shot at meeting draft prospects.

Despite carrying question marks about his character, USC's Caleb Williams excelled in team meetings, according to a new report.

"I know the teams had really positive meetings with him," Ian Rapoport said of Williams. "His teammates really like him. He takes football very seriously, he takes losses very hard. He cares about it a lot, which I don't think is a negative. It seems to be the review, the meetings were really positive."

The Bears met with Williams on Wednesday at 10:40 p.m., according to a report from Albert Breer. They got to know him while testing his abilities, regurgitating plays from earlier in the conversation.

There are still steps in the process before the Bears can be certain about him. Williams declined to complete medical examinations at the combine, an unprecedented move by NFL prospects.

In making that move, Williams aimed to eliminate the redundancy of meeting with each team's doctors to answer the same questions. As he put it to the media, only one team can draft him. He plans to complete medicals for teams in the running to draft him, including the Bears.

The Bears attempted to meet with Williams for a top-30 meeting shortly after the combine, which could've been for a variety of reasons. They'll now host him at Halas Hall after attending his pro day at USC on March 20. Then, the Bears will get the missing puzzle piece to their evaluation, obtaining his medicals and speaking with him for a longer time.

As it stands, most around the league believe Williams will become a Chicago Bear, including Rapoport.

"Most people I've talked to believe he is the No. 1 [pick] and most people believe the Bears are going to take him No. 1," Rapoport said.

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