Brenden Rice played two seasons with Caleb Williams at USC. He has nothing but praise for his former quarterback.
Although the son of Jerry Rice is going to be drafted into the NFL in April, many of the questions asked of him on radio row at the Super Bowl relate to the prospective No. 1 overall pick. Caleb Williams has been a hot topic in Las Vegas and Brenden is an expert on the topic.
His patience with the topic has been tremendous. It started at the Senior Bowl.
Brenden Rice told NFL general managers that not drafting Williams would be the worst decision that they could make.
If you can go ahead and risk [not picking him] and picking apart his game and letting him fall, have fun losing your job, man.
— Brenden Rice
It is impossible to deny that Williams is a remarkable athlete. Rice agrees.
He’s a generational talent and you really have to take it as that. That dude elevated my game. Without him, I wouldn’t be up here right now.
— Brenden Rice, via CHGO Sports
There is very little dispute about about Williams’ on-field abilities. However, there is a lot of conversation surrounding his character.
Williams’ painted nails drew criticism. He got a lot of heat for crying with his mother in the stands after a close home loss. People said that his desire to cuddle with his dogs and watch Netflix is a red flag.
One former New York Jets scout (the validity of his opinion is unclear) ripped him to shreds.
Rice thinks that all of the chatter is ridiculous. His relationship with Williams made him a better athlete.
From what I saw? Psssshhhtttt…
There were days where I had rough games and he was like “hey, lock back in. Focus. I know what you can do. I can trust you. I’ve seen the work you’ve put in day-in and day-out. I know that you’re going to go out here and make the best play.”
— Brenden Rice, via NBC Sports
It is hard to comprehend the criticism from people who did not spend two full seasons with Williams, when people who did are saying that it’s a load of rubbish. That is the world in which we live!
People jump to conclusions about people or situations based off of their own insecurities. Rice is trying to help put a stop to all of the negativity. He finds it to be entirely untrue and he would know best.
Should Chicago not choose to draft Caleb Williams at No. 1, Brenden Rice believes the organization will regret it!