Top overall pick Caleb Williams will be the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears as soon as he officially enters the roster. Of that, there is zero question.
However, Williams still has yet to officially sign his rookie contract with the Bears. And a complicating factor in the delayed signing is that Williams does not have an agent representing him on contractual matters. That means that technically only Williams is allowed to negotiate with the Bears.
So when Williams indicated over the weekend that he’s not personally handling his own contract dealings, it raised an eyebrow or two. Williams was speaking at a charity event he hosted in Chicago on Saturday.
“I’m not handling that,” Williams said via the Chicago Tribune. “My lawyers and attorney and everybody, the head of the Bears, everybody up there up top is handling that. That’s not my position that I’m handling.”
According to the NFLPA regulations, Williams is the only one who is allowed to handle that because he does not have a recognized agent. It’s a letter-of-the-law technicality and nothing more than that, but it’s still notable that Williams openly admits he’s skirting the NFLPA’s laws before he ever steps foot on the field.
As noted above, it’s nothing for Bears fans to be concerned about. Williams’ salary is locked in; there’s nothing really to negotiate. The same is true with fellow first-rounder Rome Odunze, who also has yet to sign his rookie deal with the Bears. The rookies are expected to report to Chicago’s training camp on Tuesday.