This time of year in the NFL, beat reporters and insiders do all they can to find interesting nuggets during training camp practices. The most talked-about quarterback this summer has been Caleb Williams, the Chicago Bears’ sophomore signal-caller. ESPN analyst Domonique Foxworth was in the middle of many camps during his career as an NFL defensive back, and now he is trying to help fans understand why their favorite team’s quarterback might have a bad day at camp that gets hammered by local media.
Williams’ ups and downs are closely chronicled by Bears media and become national storylines, but Foxworth says nobody outside the Bears facility truly knows what his performance at camp means.
Most fans know that teams use preseason to nail down communication and routines. Performances in August are taken with a grain of salt. With practice, on the other hand, Foxworth says a team could be trying any number of scripts with a young quarterback like Williams.
“The reason why the scripts matters is, what are you trying to accomplish with your quarterback?” he said Monday on The Domonique Foxworth Show.
“And I think it has something to do with where your quarterback is and your coaching philosophy, particularly for the young quarterbacks. Like, am I trying to test him? At every level, trying to test him physically, mentally, emotionally in this period or during this camp. Or am I trying to build his confidence? The reporters that are watching don’t know the answer. Any of us who are watching don’t know the answer.”
Foxworth cautioned that most practices are heavily scripted by NFL teams. If a QB makes a few poor throws or looks confused, it is often because the coach is trying to challenge the quarterback that day. Foxworth recalled that when he played in Denver, the legendary Mike Shanahan would give the defense the play sheet of the offensive scout team. The point wasn’t to “beat” the scout team, but to learn the tendencies and schemes of that week’s opponent.
Even joint practices with rival teams are mostly scripted, according to Foxworth. So even as retired player who had success on the gridiron, Foxworth struggles to know how to evaluate stinkers on the practice field. Mostly, he defers to the pedigree of the player in question.
“If you’ve reached some level of success, my assumption is, if you had a horrible day in practice, it’s a result of your coach scheming it up so it’ll be really hard or it’s a result of you trying to do stuff to feel things out,” Foxworth explained. “I just don’t know how to think about these things.”
So does that mean reporters should be looking more at a player like Caleb Williams’ demeanor and mindset during practice? Should they be asking coaches more about the practice script and goals of that day’s work in order to paint a better picture? Maybe. But those are the types of details coaches are loathe to share, even if they might help fans understand what’s going on.