Caleb Williams Not Naming Patrick Mahomes A Top-2 NFL QB Is Either Mad Disrespect Or Borderline Delusional Self-Confidence

Caleb Williams has achieved great things as a football player. Whether it was unseating previously-projected No. 1 overall pick Spencer Rattler as a freshman at Oklahoma, following Lincoln Riley to USC to promptly win the Heisman Trophy, or becoming the first overall pick in the NFL Draft himself, Williams’ confidence is reflected in both his dazzling play style and his personality.

But this trend of young-gun field generals speaking out on their elder peers — looking at you too, CJ Stroud — adds a lot of unnecessary scrutiny to already-massive expectations. Whatever. That ain’t stopping Stroud from leaving Josh Allen out of his top-five QB list, and it didn’t stop Williams from naming Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford as the NFL’s top two quarterbacks ahead of three-time Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes.

It’s one thing for a youngin’ to say he models his game after the likes of Rodgers and Stafford. It’s another to imply a 40-year-old Rodgers coming off an Achilles and an oft-banged-up Stafford are superior to Mahomes. What makes it weirder is that Mahomes is the player Williams is most often compared to by far. It ain’t close. So to omit him is almost weird-energy petty to me.

Really it’s disrespectful more than anything else. There’s a lot of that going around for the Chiefs and Mahomes lately. Whether it’s the rival Raiders poking fun at Mahomes’ voice with a custom Kermit doll, or the NFL top 100 player-voted rankings relegating Mahomes to No. 4 overall and QB2 behind Lamar Jackson, the hits just keep on coming.

Chiefs superfan Nick Wright’s brain is about to be twisted into a pretzel after this.

Somehow the pressure on the Chiefs is alleviated to a degree when stuff like this happens in the media world. Regardless of Williams’ intent, the subtext that everyone will read into is that he purposely omitted Mahomes as a top-two QB.

Maybe he views the situation with Andy Reid to be more favorable than any other in the league. Maybe he has his sights set on greater things than even Mahomes has achieved, which to me, reeks of delusional self-confidence. Why would I toss that out there as a remote possibility? Look no further than the lock screen on Williams’ phone:

That’s right. Williams isn’t chasing his contemporary and oft-compared peer Mahomes. He’s gunning to pass Tom Brady’s seven Super Bowl wins. Notice, too, that Williams has a quote about the war within his own mind, as opposed to competing against anyone else. Like I said, borderline delusional self-confidence on display here, yet that’s a big part of what’s driven Williams to achieve as much as he has on the gridiron to date.

I give anyone credit for being that comfortable in their own skin, especially with so much outside noise and invasive public interest. What I’m wondering is, will Caleb Williams be as good as many of us believe him to be? Because he’s sure talking a big-enough game as if it’s an inevitability that he’ll be leaps and bounds better than any QB in Chicago Bears franchise history.

I’m here for all of it, but as they say, youth is wasted on the young, and to be kind, it’s very *youthful* of Williams to give Mahomes any added fuel. For in the end, it might actually be Mahomes with the eight rings, and Williams hoping to match him. The Chiefs are nearly halfway to that mark already.