I was curious on how each performed vs ranked teams in college and looked up their stats. I am tired of hearing how much better Williams is as a prospect compared to Fields when he is mainly beating up on lowly teams, while struggling more against proper opponents. Spoiler alert, the NFL will have a good opponent every week.
Fields (2019, 2020) faced 11 ranked teams, the average of the rank of teams was 10.45. His stats are below:
Cmp Pct: 63.17 (avg)
Yds: 254.60 (avg)
TD: 27 (total)
Int: 9 (total)
Rating: 160.01 (avg)
Williams (2022, 2023) I omitted his freshman year to keep it as comparable as possible. He has faced 7 ranked teams so far, the avg rank of those teams being 15.54. Stats below:
Cmp Pct: 68.72
Yds: 304.55
TDs: 17
Int: 6
Rating: 145.74
As it stands now, Williams will face 3 more ranked teams, so these numbers will change, but a few things stood out to me:
1.) Fields faced higher ranked teams than Williams has and has very comparable stats
2.) Fields has a higher rating vs ranked teams than Williams has (If Williams goes nuts vs the upcoming ranked teams, this gap could close)
To conclude, I do not believe for a second that Williams is a “Generational Prospect”. He beats up on lowly teams, and plays in a QB friendly offense under a highly regarded QB friendly HC. I am not a football analyst by any means, but I really feel strongly in my gut that Williams will be an above avg QB in the NFL at best. I do not think he can save the Bears to the extent needed to warrant a #1 pick. Fields was just as good as a prospect coming out of college and the stats back it up. I like Fields. I want him to be the guy. If he isn’t then he isn’t, but I do not want this team to take a slightly different version of him expecting different results. I know these comparisons are not completely apples to apples, but this is what he have. I am sure some NFL Data guys have stats that may refute my findings completely, but numbers aside, the “eye test” is a real metric and Williams, especially these past few games has not passed that test.