The NFL Draft’s Top Prize Set to Show Off at His Pro Day
Josh Frey
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The 2024 NFL Draft is a little over five weeks away, meaning teams only have a little over a month to wrap up their evaluations of this year’s prospects.
Pro days are a great way for these NFL teams to get one more look at these prospects before the draft officially begins. On Wednesday, one of the draft’s top prizes will take the field for his pro day. That player is QB Caleb Williams who will join his USC teammates on the field one more time.
NFL Draft’s Top Prize Will Show Off at His Pro Day
The quarterback began his collegiate career at Oklahoma in 2021, but after Lincoln Riley took the head coaching job at USC prior to the 2022 season, Williams opted to follow him there where he has played for the past two seasons.
Williams came into 2023 heralded as the next great quarterback prospect. While USC didn’t quite live up to their hype as a whole this season, that should not take anything away from what Williams himself is capable of.
The USC product has been one of the best improvisers at the quarterback position in all of college football. Williams’ arm talent is absolutely incredible, allowing Williams to make throws from anywhere in the backfield. He can stand in the pocket and hit receivers in stride, or he can scramble outside of the pocket and throw on the run as well as any draft prospect we’ve seen over the past couple years.
Seeing as the Vikings have lost Kirk Cousins to the Atlanta Falcons in free agency and do not have a strong long-term option at the quarterback position, they will very likely look to take one in this spring’s draft. That belief only became firmer when the Vikings made a trade to acquire the 23rd overall pick from the Houston Texans.
However, seeing as Williams is viewed by many as the QB1 of this draft class, the Chicago Bears more than likely have their eye on the USC product as well. Chicago very well could decide to snatch him with the first overall pick, especially now that they’ve traded Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
There are plenty of other prospects that the Vikings could have their eye on at the USC pro day, though. RB MarShawn Lloyd could be a strong addition to Minnesota’s backfield, particularly considering newly signed Aaron Jones is only on a one-year contract and is about to turn 30 years old. Brenden Rice, the son of legendary WR Jerry Rice, could also be on Minnesota’s radar after the team lost K.J. Osborn.
Last spring, the Vikings selected two players out USC, and in fact, they were each of Minnesota’s first two draft picks in WR Jordan Addison and CB Mekhi Blackmon. We’ll see if more Trojans could be on the Vikings’ draft board this April.
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Josh Frey is a Class of 2020 graduate of The College of Idaho and managing editor of PurplePTSD.com. When he’s not writing about the NFL, Josh enjoys running, gaming, or rooting for the Milwaukee Brewers and Bucks. Check out his Twitter account: @Freyed_Chicken.