Bear Digest

Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze Unsigned on Eve of Rookies Reporting

Bears rookies are slated to report to Halas Hall on Tuesday but the draft's No. 1 and No. 9 picks are among the seven unsigned draft picks left in the NFL.

Gene Chamberlain

Caleb Williams looks for some direction during warmups at Bears minicamp earlier this offseason.
Caleb Williams looks for some direction during warmups at Bears minicamp earlier this offseason. / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Anyone hoping to hear something more about a potential Caleb Williams contract signing at an appearance he made over the weekend came away disappointed.

Williams’ only comment about the situation was almost exactly the same as what he said in June practices. The Bears rookie quarterback is slated to report with other rookies on Tuesday, with veterans due in camp Friday and practices beginning Saturday.

“I’m not handling that,” Williams said, according to the Tribune’s Colleen Kane. “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.”

The comment he made at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center in Gately Park for his Caleb Cares Foundation event was no more revealing and even less specific than what he said at Bears minicamp last month.

After the draft he said he has a “team” handling his financial matters and he doesn’t have an agent, although The Athletic reported he does have sanctioned agent Tony Agnone advising his “team.”

“I’m not handling that,” Williams said at Halas Hall after minicamp. “I’ve been focused on these past three days of minicamp, the OTAs before that and rookie camp before that.

“I haven’t been focused on that. (GM Ryan) Poles and my team has been focused on that. I have lawyers and attorneys to handle things like that so I can be free-minded on the field, enjoying coming into work every day and working my tail off.”

He did divulge his reasoning for this at minicamp.

“Yeah it's great,” he said. “It goes back to having a plan. It goes back to having a support team around you. That's really important off the field. So I don't have to deal with any of it.

“I have the right people that I trust that give me summaries of what's going on and things like that. So being able to handle that and not put much thought process into it allows me to work on Phase 1 (offensive) install and fully dig in. Like I was speaking about, being able to dig into that, but also find ways to learn it and different ways to be able to coach it to my teammates and help out.”

Contracts are slotted, so the cash itself can’t be a huge stumbling block. Spotrac.com projects the slot for Williams at $39.486 million over four years with a fifth-year option.  Odunze’s slot is $22.724 million.

Last year’s No. 1 pick, Bryce Young, didn’t sign until just before training camp with Carolina on July 24.

Williams is one of five unsigned first-rounders as of Monday. Teammate Rome Odunze, the ninth pick overall, is unsigned, as is Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (No. 10), Vikings defensive end Dallas Turner (No. 17) and Bengals tackle Amarius Mims (No. 18).

The only other unsigned picks in the draft are Jets wide receiver Malachi Corley, who was first in the third round and 65th overall, and Cardinals running back Trey Benson, selected 66th overall.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.