Caleb Williams fired back at ESPN analyst Greg McElroy for saying he ‘never experienced adversity’

“Let’s go back to school again cause I’m bored rn.”After what has felt like ages, the 2024 NFL Draft is finally just over two weeks away.

Starting April 25 in Detroit, teams will get their chance to select the players they’ve been researching, interviewing, and scouting for months. The draft will start with the Chicago Bears, who are picking first overall thanks to a 2023 trade with the Carolina Panthers that saw Chicago send the 2023 first overall pick to Carolina in exchange for the Panthers’ 2023 first-round pick, 2024 first-round pick, and star receiver DJ Moore.

The Bears have made their intentions crystal clear. They will be selecting USC Trojans quarterback and 2022 Heisman Trophy Caleb Williams first overall to (finally?) bring a franchise quarterback to the snakebitten franchise.

The writing has been on the wall all offseason but only intensified after Chicago traded quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers in March.

The lack of intrigue over what the Bears will do with the pick has seemingly led to analysts scrambling to fill time and reporters asking strange questions. The most recent example came Tuesday when former NFL quarterback and ESPN analyst Greg McElroy questioned if Williams had been through enough “adversity” in his collegiate career to be successful in the pros.

Appearing on Kevin Clark’s podcast, McElroy said he was unsure if Williams would have a chip on his shoulder down the road like other NFL quarterbacks we’ve seen, or if the lack of adversity he’s faced would stunt his development.

“He has never experienced adversity,” said McElroy. “Very little adversity as far as how he was received and how he was received as the next-best guy.”

The presumed first-overall pick apparently had some free time and watched the discussion. He then took to X/Twitter on Tuesday afternoon to defend himself.

Let’s go back to school again cause I’m bored rn..” Williams posted, before defining adversity and explaining what he’s been through. “A state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune. Y1. Didn’t start freshman year. Y2. Popped hammy championship game 1st Q. Lost bc of my hammy. Y3. 7-5 my last year of college ball.”

Saying Williams didn’t face adversity is absurd, as he said. Last season, USC went 7-5 after being ranked in the preseason top 10, and that record would have likely been even worse had Williams thrown more than five interceptions to go along with his 30 touchdown passes.