Mel Kiper assesses possibility that Washington Commanders could trade up to draft Caleb Williams No. 1
News broke Sunday that the Washington Commanders are going to hire Kliff Kingsbury as their offensive coordinator, leading to immediate speculation about the possibility of Caleb Williams joining him in Washington.
Kingsbury spent this past season as an analyst at USC, helping the Trojans offense, including star quarterback Caleb Williams.
The Commanders currently have the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft, but the Bears could be interested in making a deal with Washington that would land the Commanders the top pick and potentially Williams.
Mel Kiper debated on ESPN First Draft on Monday whether or not Washington should make a move for the No. 1 pick.
“Personally, I don’t think that gap’s enough right now,” Kiper said. “If Caleb Williams would’ve played this year like he did in 2022, I’d have said, ‘Definitely. Do what you’ve gotta do to get up there.’ But really from the Notre Dame game on, he didn’t. And that was kind of inexplicable, as well, why he didn’t perform at a higher level.”
USC got off to a 6-0 start in 2023 and was being talked about as a national title contender, before going 1-5 down the stretch. Williams threw eight touchdowns, with four interceptions over his final six games. He played one of the worst games of his career at Notre Dame, throwing three picks.
Kiper has Caleb Williams ahead of both LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels and North Carolina QB Drake Maye, but not by much.
“I think the gap right now isn’t that significant,” Kiper said. “I would sit at 2 and look at Jayden Daniels. That’s my opinion. Drake Maye would be the third quarterback, which would mean he would fall right in the lap of the New England Patriots. If the gap’s huge, you make the move. If it’s not, you don’t. I don’t think it will be enough to make that move.”
While Kiper doesn’t see the gap between Williams, Daniels and Maye as significant, he admits that he doesn’t know if Washington feels the same way.
If the Commanders love Williams and believe he is far and away the top player in the draft, Kiper believes Washington should give up whatever it has to in order to land him.
“If they feel Caleb Williams is significantly better than Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye, then you try to make that move. Because it’s all about quarterbacks,” Kiper said. “Nobody’s going to care about those other picks you give up if you would get that elite quarterback. And they have a lot of talent on this football team.
“If they added a quarterback like Caleb Williams, who was a local product from Gonzaga High School, where I watched him play at the prep level here in this area. Do they want to go that route? … Giving up a lot to go up one spot and get Caleb. It all depends on the difference between Caleb and the No. 2 quarterback.”