If you've been on Twitter/X in the past 24 hours, it's likely that you've seen one or multiple NFL aggregation accounts discussing a report regarding USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Specifically, the "report" relates to one of his desires for whatever team drafts the QB.
The report states that Williams wants an ownership stake in whatever NFL team drafts him. This stems from a July report via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. But that's where the widely circulating rumor starts to get debunked immediately.
Caleb Williams ownership rumor is completely bogus, mainly because the NFL says it has to be
Florio's reporting in July was, in fact, that Williams (and Aaron Rodgers, for what it's worth) were among a select few players who inquired about team ownership stakes. So at one point, the USC quarterback was looking into that possibility. But what this recent revival of the report fails to mention on social media is that Florio's report was based on the league shutting down that possibility entirely.
"The NFL curiously has slammed the door on teams giving equity to players or employees, before anyone ever actually tried to do it," Florio said in July in his lede for the report.
The report in question regarding Caleb Williams was simply that he was interested but that the NFL had ruled that players (among others) are not eligible to have ownership stakes in a team. Thus, there is literally no chance that the QB still wants that because, by the league's newly stated rules, it is actually not allowed.
On an even simpler level, Williams could also want a diamond-encrusted toilet seat from whatever team drafts him and that doesn't mean he's going to get it. Yes, there are way for draft prospects to strong-arm their situations and possibly even force a trade before playing a down. But making high-end requests like ownership stake -- if that were even feasible by league rules -- seems a bit outlandish on the surface.
So despite what you've probably seen on social media, there is nothing to see here with Caleb Williams. It's aggregators on social media either intentionally misleading or blindly missing the point of a report that is now three months old. Thus, teams like the Bears, Vikings, Raiders, Patriots and so on hoping to land Williams in April's draft don't have to worry about these reported ownership stake negotiations. They won't happen... because they can't.
