ESPN's Dan Orlovsky on the Caleb Williams Story

Athlon Sports

ESPN NFL analyst and former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky speaks with Athlon Sports' Doug Farrar about the revelation that Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears was given no help in the film room in his 2024 rookie season.

Transcript

00:00so when i saw that in that quote immediately i was like there's no way that that's true

00:05i just because while i've been fortunate enough to be a part of the nfl for a long time

00:11at times i still struggle to actually believe some of the things that you read about what

00:16happens in the league or the stories or whatnot so my initial thought was like there's no way

00:20that that happened there's there's no way that you as an organization and when you're having

00:26the number one pick that you you don't think that that's an important step in the process

00:32and then you know seth does such good reporting and whatnot like i start to get frustrated

00:38after reading it and thinking about it because i'm like if that is true and i i would assume it is but

00:44i don't know for sure if that's true it's just so infuriating that an organization and a staff

00:52did not think that that was i would argue the most important part of his developmental process

00:58and part of it is because like listen caleb's the number one pick he's a billion times more

01:02talented than i ever was like i had to experience that a little bit as a young player we were going

01:08i don't know what i'm doing like i was in meetings like that and i'm like looking for help and you're

01:12searching for help and you feel all alone and so you know i got absolutely killed last year doug when

01:18you know someone asked me about caleb whatnot and i said my biggest you know concern or complaint is

01:22like he really hasn't developed he hasn't improved over the season and if if this is true if this

01:28reporting is true and that is what happened it explains a lot so i just i just get really angry

01:36and frustrated and upset and disappointed that we still at times in the nfl operate in that capacity

01:46because no matter what anyone says no matter what anyone says yes people's jobs get affected no doubt

01:54but people aren't telling everybody that this coach that was responsible for him sucked they're just

02:00gonna say that caleb williams sucked you know it's gonna fall on his shoulders does it put a different

02:06cast i mean you mentioned this a different cast on how williams performed last season it certainly did

02:11for me and i didn't play quarterback in the nfl and i'm wondering also i mean is this more common than

02:15people think for quarterbacks to have to put up put that all together without the right kind of

02:20coaching help because i've heard other stories from other quarterbacks over the years where it's like

02:25and i would be aghast like you didn't get like the basics like how to run protections how to id a mike

02:32like in your system i think it's more common than people think yeah so it definitely changed my vantage

02:38point of how last year went for him um it changed my vantage point on you know what maybe what i feel

02:45about him going forward with ben johnson you know because everything my perspective was i actually

02:51believed the the 180 of at least what this report is it was like oh my gosh they got to be all over

02:57him when it comes to studying and learning and whatnot and so it definitely makes me feel

03:03less discouraged than what i felt coming off of last season all right so i'll i'll go on a little bit

03:11of time here when it comes to all this so because when that happened yesterday everyone and i had

03:16some friends be like are you kidding me this is the nfl or you should have learned how to study tape in

03:22in high school or in college or you should take it upon yourself so i have a couple things to say about

03:28all that number one i think young unbelievably physically gifted players at that position probably

03:37learn how to study tape less and later than some other less physically gifted guys because the guys

03:46that are remarkably talented as always they can get away with more and so it's not an athlete anybody

03:52correct so it's not a necessity the second part is maybe that's not a big part of what their

03:58offensive scheme in a high school indoor college was maybe that it wasn't the third part is and that's

04:06probably more prevalent nowadays for quarterbacks is most quarterbacks the majority of the offense

04:12they run is in tempo and so in tempo when you're running plays there's way less pre-snap diagnosis

04:19going on one because the goal is to run as many plays as you can or run them as quickly to out

04:26um out time or creep unbalanced to the defense and two a lot of times no huddle or tempo is so the

04:35coach from the sidelines can stand there see what's going on to go communicate to the player the

04:41quarterback what the defense is and then it's just that so they're maybe not learning why things are

04:46happening so caleb maybe didn't learn how to study and um identify defense in high school that doesn't

04:54make them dumb that doesn't make it wrong it's just what they did correct lincoln riley may not have

04:59done a ton of it because if you're lincoln riley winning games it's probably more confident for you

05:08to just figure out what the defense is doing tell the quarterback what the play is and you think the

05:13play is going to work rather than trying to teach the quarterback exactly everything that's going on

05:18because he was a young player so that doesn't mean he can't do it that doesn't mean it's wrong it's just

05:23the way that they operate and so like if you sit down and talk with these colleges i mean doug i've sat

05:28with these colleges that run tempo and you ask certain players quarter i mean i remember

05:33asking a quarterback okay what's the protection use and this is a college quarterback a good college

05:40quarterback that is an nfl player and he goes we only use one protection and i'm like what do you

05:46mean he goes we only have one and i said well what would be what would you do if this player from

05:52this side blitz and he was like just see it and run away from him type of thing and so that's that's

05:57how they do it whether we like it or not you know and so um so i think that people need to understand

06:03like no not every guy gets taught how to handle it all and and how to break it all down so um that was

06:11my big complaint with some of the stuff yesterday it's like how come he didn't learn this in high

06:14school or college it's you know maybe not their offense i've asked guys you know what do you do if

06:20you don't get to the line of scrimmage and the defense gives you another look will you just find

06:23bodies

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