'He's what you want as the face of your franchise.' Get to know Bears rookie QB Caleb Williams.

Ryan said it best. For those that know him and surround him on a day-to-day basis, he’s what you want in your team. He’s what you want as the face of your franchise. He’s not going to be one of those guys that you’re going to have to worry about.

When you get inside the walls of an NFL locker room, those guys recognize real. And those guys understand professionalism. And I think all of those questions can be answered by the words that the men that are in that building that have worked with him and are playing with him have said about him this early. And he hasn’t even started his rookie season.

— Chicago hasn’t been a friendly place for quarterbacks, and playing here comes with a lot of scrutiny. Why do you think he can handle it?

L.A. is probably the largest media market, so he’s had a little bit of practice with it. It’s the L.A. market. People say they want to come and play and want to be on the biggest stage. This was the biggest stage. It’s like, “All right. You asked for it. Here it is.”

— Have you been in touch with him much since he was drafted?

The Friday before last, he and my son, my 9-year-old, were texting back and forth. He was at dinner. My 9-year-old wanted to show him a play that he had in his flag football game, and Caleb responded to him. It kind of speaks to the type of man that he is. He had a million other things and it could have been very easy to be like, “Eh, I’ll hit him back later or I won’t.” After the text was sent, within minutes there was an immediate response from him.

— Anything you want to add?

I think he’s going to have some very successful moments, and I think he’s going to have some moments that he’s going to have to overcome a learning curve. But that’s the process any young quarterback starting out in that league goes through, and he’ll weather the storm.