INDIANAPOLIS — Before he explained what he could do in the pros, quarterback Caleb Williams explained what he wouldn’t do in the draft process.
The first question fired at Williams during a rare interview Friday came from the back of the horde gathered around his podium at the NFL Scouting Combine. A reporter, screaming, asked why he didn’t want to be compared to his peers in medical evaluations, drills and other measurements.
‘‘Caleb, are you afraid to compete?’’ the reporter asked.
Williams said he and his support team simply had made a decision. He continued to act like a player with well-deserved leverage when he became the first player to decline medical evaluations at the combine. It was the latest unique move by Williams, whose decisions as the clear-cut No. 1 pick have bucked tradition.
Williams doesn’t have an agent, instead relying on an inner circle led by his father, Carl. His salary as the top pick is set, so he doesn’t think he needs one.
Williams won’t throw at the combine Saturday, either, which is part of a recent trend among the top prospects. (North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels, both of whom are expected to be drafted among the top three spots, won’t throw, either.) He’ll save his workout for his pro day March 20 at USC.
‘‘I played around 30-something [college] games,’’ Williams said. ‘‘Go ahead and watch real live ball of me and see how I am as a
competitor.’’
He explained his medical decision, too, saying he would participate in examinations given by the teams he’ll visit leading up to the draft. Williams didn’t know how many teams he would travel to see, but the Bears will be among them.
‘‘Not 32 teams can draft me; there is only one of me,’’ he said. ‘‘So the teams that I go to for my visit, those teams will have the medical. And that’s it.’’
None of the above is particularly concerning. But it’s clear that the first name, image and likeness star in the college game is positioning himself as an iconoclast in the NFL’s ever-expanding draft complex.
The Bears must ask themselves whether they’re comfortable with that — and whether Williams’ play on the field makes him worth it. Signs point toward yes. In three combined seasons at Oklahoma and USC, he threw for 10,082 yards with 93 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Additionally, he ran for 966 yards and 27 touchdowns.
There were standard questions Friday about Williams’ height, which he estimates between 6-1 and 6-2 (‘‘I’m around Aaron Rodgers’ size and maybe weight, too’’), and about how he handled a 7-5 record last season at USC (‘‘The cool thing about my experiences is that all three years have been a bit different’’).
Other questions got weird. Williams has been criticized in some circles for painting his nails for games and for crying in the arms of his family after a loss to Washington. Asked about the latter, Williams didn’t apologize for caring.
‘‘There are not many people in the world that get to experience what I experience every game day, every practice day,’’ he said. ‘‘So it kind of goes back to that for me: It’s something that I only get to experience. It’s something that I really care about, which is not only winning the game but doing it with my teammates. Every time we lose, I feel like I let my teammates down.’’
Williams didn’t conduct interviews after his last game at USC (a loss to rival UCLA) or during the Trojans’ lead-up to the Holiday Bowl, which he watched from the sideline. He waited until the deadline to apply for the NFL Draft, then released a statement.
Williams gave an interview to ESPN this week specifically to say he would be willing to play for the Bears, his hometown Commanders or anyone else who drafted him. He smiled when talking about the Commanders on Friday, saying, ‘‘It would be really cool to be back there and experience’’ playing near his home, but he praised Chicago, too.
‘‘Y’all rarely see me speak — ever,’’ he said. ‘‘As you all know, I don’t really go out and speak much, but this was important to me that I wanted to put something out before I came [to Indianapolis], especially with all the noise and things like that that have been brewing.’’
Some thought he pushed back on rumors last month that he rather would not come to Chicago by posting an Instagram photo of himself as a child wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon bear on it.
Not the case, he claimed.
‘‘It was not intentional,’’ he said. ‘‘I didn’t see the bear on the front. But it was kind of funny when I saw the reports on that.’’
