The top of the 2024 NFL Draft is loaded with talent at premium positions. While there are guys at spots like wide receiver (Marvin Harrison Jr.), offensive tackle (Olu Fashanu, Joe Alt), and edge rusher (Jared Verse, Dallas Turner) who NFL teams would covet, everyone is looking for a quarterback, and in 2024, USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye are leading the pack at the position.
Williams, in particular, is viewed as a potentially franchise-changing talent, as the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner has spent his collegiate career coached by Lincoln Riley and has shown he has the arm, the legs, and the playmaking ability that NFL teams want in a quarterback. But in a recent piece by Sam Schube of GQ, Williams’ father, Carl, made clear that there’s no guarantee that he’ll make the jump to the NFL next year, citing the caliber of teams that usually end up picking No. 1 overall.
“The funky thing about the NFL draft process is, he’d almost be better off not being drafted than being drafted first. The system is completely backwards,” he says. “The way the system is constructed, you go to the worst possible situation. The worst possible team, the worst organization in the league—because of their desire for parity—gets the first pick. So it’s the gift and the curse. I mean, I’ve talked to Archie Manning—his career was shot because he went to a horrible organization. I’ve talked to Lincoln [Riley], and Kyler [Murray] struggled because of where he was drafted. Baker [Mayfield] struggled mightily because of where he was drafted. The organizations matter.” And there’s a break-in-case-of-emergency option that Carl is keeping in mind. “He’s got two shots at the apple,” he says. “So if there’s not a good situation, the truth is, he can come back to school.”
It’s a curious quote, in large part because it’s not like the team drafting No. 1 overall in 2025 projects to be a markedly better situation than the team drafting No. 1 overall in 2024. But the most interesting part comes when he brings up Riley’s analysis of why Murray has struggled in Arizona, as the Cardinals could very well be the team drafting first next year, whether that’s via their own pick or the first-round pick they’ll receive from the Houston Texans. (Additionally, recently-fired Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury is a senior offensive analyst for the Trojans.)
While the team would need to figure out what to do with Murray in that situation — he’s going to miss time this season due to his ongoing recovery from a knee injury, and he’s in the early days of a gigantic contract extension he signed last year — if they have the top pick, it stands to reason that Williams will be the overwhelming favorite to get selected. Now, it is worth mentioning that plenty of sports dads have said things that do not come to fruition over the years, and the most likely option in that scenario is that Williams goes No. 1 overall to the Cardinals. But at the very least, it’s interesting that someone in his circle is opening the door for a return to college in 2024 in an effort to avoid a bad situation in the NFL.