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How does Caleb Williams compare to Jayden Daniels in sophomore season?

Originally posted on Chicago Bears on SI
By Pete Martuneac | Last updated Oct 1, 2025 5:08 PM ET

By the end of the 2024 NFL season, Chicago Bears fans found themselves in what looked to be an all too familiar situation. Their quarterback Caleb Williams, selected with the first overall pick, fell well short of expectations in his rookie season and the head coach had been fired. Making matters worse, the quarterback selected directly after Williams, Jayden Daniels, won the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year award and guided his team to the NFC Championship Game.

It seemed that the Bears had once again selected the wrong quarterback and would suffer the mockery of the rest of the NFL for years to come. However, careers are not written after one season. Both Williams and Daniels have plenty of football left ahead of them and their careers could go any number of ways.

Now that we've passed the quarter mark of their sophomore seasons, it's time for a check-in. Which quarterback is performing better? Looking at their raw stats, Williams is clearly ahead of Daniels. He's completing a higher percentage of his passes, gaining more yards per attempt, and has a higher passer rating and QBR (all stats are taken from ESPN).

So far, things are looking great for Williams, but the raw stats don't tell the full story, especially not when Daniels has missed two out of four games with an injury (he's expected to return in Week 5 after a promising update on Daniels' status). What do the advanced stats tell us? Bears fans will be happy to hear it's even more good news for Williams.

Breakdown of the 2024 1st round QB class through 4 weeks pic.twitter.com/4lvnZOsjiI
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) September 30, 2025

As the above chart shows, Williams leads Daniels in all but one category, including the two most important stats: EPA per drop back and clean pocket passing grade. These categories are usually the most reliable indicators of whether a young quarterback is genuinely improving. EPA is especially important to head coach Ben Johnson, who explained in the offseason how this key Chicago Bears stat is more important to him than most others.

Both Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels have a long way to go before they can be considered established veteran quarterbacks and no longer young players who are still learning. However, I think we've seen enough football from both quarterbacks by now to know that Williams was written off far too early by the national media. Yes, Williams struggled as a rookie and Daniels had the unquestionably better season. But that's now in the past. Here in the present, Williams appears to have grown by leaps and bounds while Daniels stagnated or regressed in several areas.

Bears fans should be excited about their quarterback and the future he offers for this franchise. If he continues his four-week trend under Ben Johnson, then by January there will be no doubt at all that the Bears drafted the right quarterback after all.

This article first appeared on Chicago Bears on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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