In 2024, Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears were a bit of a disappointment. Starting the year with a bunch of optimism surrounding the first overall pick QB and getting that Hard Knocks “bump” from publicity, it’s safe to say finishing with a 5-12 record and ending up dead last in the NFC North wasn’t exactly what fans had in mind. Read on to find out why this year will be a completely different story, especially in fantasy football.
Caleb Williams 2025 Fantasy Football Outlook
Chicago Bears’ Improvements
The Bears certainly appear to be all-in with their QB’s rookie-contract window based on how they approached the off-season. Recognizing that the offensive line was a liability in 2024, the Bears acquired Jonah Jackson, Joe Thuney, and Drew Dalman to help. This will dramatically improve every aspect of the Bears’ offense in 2025.
Continuing the goal of improving the offense, the Bears drafted TE Colston Loveland with the 10th pick in the 2025 draft. They then proceeded to draft WR Luther Burden in the second round, further strengthening an offensive unit that ranked dead last in yards per game in 2024. Suffice it to say, the Bears understood that their offense had some holes and then proceeded to attempt to fill them to support their former first overall pick Quarterback.
Explaining What Happened in 2024
To help predict the future, one must first look to the past. So, how did Williams fare with a sub-optimal offensive line in 2024? Perhaps not as bad fantasy-wise as you might think! Williams threw for 3,541 yards, 20 TDs, and only 6 INTs, while adding 489 rushing yards on a robust 6.0 yards per attempt. In standard scoring, this was good for Williams to finish as the QB14.
Part of why Williams’ year is being overlooked is due to the success of the rookies drafted after him. With Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix having great years, both in real-life NFL terms and in fantasy, the shine on Williams has seemed to dim slightly. But we’re here to talk fantasy, and for a player who finished as a borderline QB1 in 2024 with all the issues around him last year, there’s real upside going forward into 2025.
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Why I’m Excited for 2025
There’s a ton to be excited about for Williams’ upcoming season. Firstly, just look at what the Bears did to fix the problems they were having in 2024. Investing heavily in overhauling their offensive line and bolstering their receiving weapons, the Bears will be hard pressed to finish dead last in offense again this year. A better offense immediately improves Williams’ fantasy prognosis.
Just look at the playmakers who Williams will be surrounded by in 2025. Joining the aforementioned Loveland and Burden as pass catchers, we have stud WR DJ Moore, second-year first-round WR Rome Odunze, and perennially under-valued TE Cole Kmet. At Running Back, D’Andre Swift returns after a decent debut campaign with the squad. Add in his ability to scramble and the arsenal of weapons, Williams couldn’t be better set up for huge success.
The Bears also replaced their offensive coordinator, tagging Declan Doyle to scheme their offense in 2025. Even as a relative unknown, replacing Shane Waldron was a necessity to continue Williams’ development. While changing coordinators is generally bad, this move can be viewed positively for the Bears’ offense moving forward.
I’m convinced! Where should I be drafting Caleb Williams?
As always, this is very dependent on your league settings! Be diligent and know the kind of league you are in! With that disclaimer aside, let’s look at where Williams is currently being drafted. At publishing time, he is ranked at QB12 in redraft leagues and is being drafted as the QB10 in bestball. Based on everything you’ve read up to this point, you should be ecstatic about this.
We are not here to say that he will all of a sudden become a Josh Allen-type fantasy player for you this year, but Williams can easily finish as a top-8 QB in 2025. While other league mates are busy drafting their QBs, you can bolster the rest of your roster and wait. Nabbing a player with as much upside as Williams has at QB12 is a certifiable steal.
Although Packers fans remind me that “the Bears still suck“, there’s real hope for optimism in 2025. This starts with the potential breakout season for their QB1, Caleb Williams. Draft him confidently with the knowledge that you might have just grabbed the Quarterback steal of your fantasy draft.
We are just over a quarter of the way through the NFL! This link will take you to the rest of our 2025 Look Inside team previews.
A Look Inside the Chicago Bears
Editor’s Note: While this article focuses on Caleb Williams in fantasy football, we don’t want to leave you hanging on the rest of the team. Here is a quick look at the other fantasy-relevant Bears from Ryan Weisse.
D’Andre Swift
Putting it bluntly, at the time of this writing, I think D’Andre Swift is the best value in fantasy football. He has top-15 potential at RB25 prices. We know Ben Johnson’s system is RB-friendly, and Swift is the best back in Chicago by a pretty large margin. Roschon Johnson has shown nothing as a pro, and Kyle Monangai is a 6th-round pick. Swift should approach 300 touches this year and could score 10 TDs.
D.J. Moore
There has been rumored turbulence between Moore and the Bears in general, but there are no indications he won’t be the WR1 in 2025. Again, in this Ben Johnson offense, the WR1 is a target-heavy, fantasy goldmine. Moore isn’t Amon-Ra St. Brown. But he’s not NOT Amon-Ra St. Brown. DJM can do all the things ARSB can do, and that could turn out really well for fantasy managers.
Rome Odunze
With this new offense in town and Keenan Allen out of town, we should get a much better second year from Odunze than his rookie season. There will be plenty of targets; we just need to see a better connection between Odunze and Williams, and that seems likely. If you believe in the emergence of this Bears offense, Odunze is a screaming value.
Luther Burden
Burden finds himself in a similar role to Odunze last year. The rookie WR has talent, but he is relatively buried on the target tree, even as the team’s WR3. Moore, Odunze, Swift, and potentially both TEs will finish ahead of Burden in targets this year. He can be safely ignored in redraft leagues.
Colston Loveland
When Loveland went ahead of Tyler Warren in the NFL Draft, fantasy managers got excited. I would caution you to temper expectations. Fantasy tight ends take time, and Loveland is likely fourth for targets on this team, at best. I could be wrong, but I am getting Dalton Kincaid feelings all over again.
Cole Kmet
We at Club Fantasy have been hating on Cole Kmet for years. We were born into this life. The rest of you are tourists. But if it takes the addition of Colston Loveland for the fantasy community to finally ignore Kmet, so be it. Welcome to the club.
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