Bears QB Caleb Williams taps into veteran receivers' database

Holed up in the same hotel during the Bears’ mandatory minicamp in June, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen decided to play games — and watch some, too. In between, Williams studied at the feet of perhaps the NFL’s most precise route-runner.

The two played Monopoly Deal, an Uno-style card game Williams has loved since college, and followed the NBA playoffs. During breaks, they drew plays from the Bears’ new offensive scheme, quizzing each other.

“[It was] just being able to go through it with him,” Allen said last week. “We talk about the play — what I like, what I’m used to, what I usually see — and then going over the knowledge, making sure we’re on the same page. Just being able to communicate at this level.”

Allen’s insight and experience have been just as valuable for Williams as his play in practice has — at least at this time of year.

“It’s nice having people like that around — a couple vets,” Williams said.

The No. 1 overall draft pick will have to learn some lessons firsthand when the season starts. But in the interim, he’s tapping into his receivers’ databases.

“It’s only helping,” he said.

In 11 seasons with the Chargers, during which he made the Pro Bowl six times, Allen worked with quarterbacks Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert in all but one game.

“I’m not a guy who masters the playbook by any means sitting at home just looking at the playbook,” Allen said. “That’s not how I learn it. I’m a trial-and-error guy. I learn through mistakes. Just being able to sit there with [Williams in minicamp], he’d call out the play, I’d draw it up, vice versa. . . .

“It all runs through him. I can see things how I see them. I can be [a jerk] about it, but that’s not me. That’s not the way I learn the game. That’s not the way I play the game. I -cater to the quarterback. I’m trying to be his best friend.”

That kind of communication has carried into training camp, and it has gone beyond just Allen. Williams also can lean on DJ Moore, whose 96 catches and 1,364 receiving yards last season were the best in his six years in the NFL.

“We’ve just all got to come together as quickly as possible,” Moore said.

Even DeAndre Carter, the Bears’ likely fifth receiver and punt returner, has played regular-season snaps for six teams since leaving college in 2015, with 108 career catches.

“Caleb coming into his first NFL offense, people don’t realize how different it is, how simplified a college offense is [compared] to an NFL offense,” Carter said after practice Monday at Halas Hall. “Having guys like DJ and Keenan, who have been in the league and have seen all the looks we’re gonna get? And being able to talk through different looks with Caleb? It’s definitely going to help.”

That education takes place in the locker room but also during walkthroughs -before practice. Coach Matt Eberflus prais-ed Williams for his precision during half-speed drills.

“We should have some really good, perfect reps,” Eberflus said. “That’s everybody. If that’s Caleb carrying out his fakes, his footwork, ball-handling, going through his reads, all that, that’s got to be done really well in the walkthroughs. . . .

“I know the old guys understand that, the vets understand that, but really, the young guys [have] got to go through that process. It takes mental strength to be able to do that every single day, every rep.”

And to pick receivers’ brains. And listen.

“[Williams is] picking this stuff up really fast,” Carter said. “Smart kid. . . . Many times, we throw him a little suggestion here and there. He’s always receptive to it, always cool about it. It’s an open line of communication.”