Bear Digest

The Problem with One League Insider's Take on Caleb Williams

Analysis: ESPN's Adam Schefter has called Caleb Williams someone who wants to "break the system," but the system of bringing people into the league is ironclad.

Gene Chamberlain

Is Caleb Williams a rebel trying to "break the system" or will he simply sign his slotted deal according to the existing CBA and report for work?
Is Caleb Williams a rebel trying to "break the system" or will he simply sign his slotted deal according to the existing CBA and report for work? / David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
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Considering the source of the comment about Caleb Williams' contract situation, it's sure to cause a ripple among Bears fans.

No less an expert on NFL negotiations than ESPN's Adam Schefter described the Bears quarterback as a rogue type who is out to change the system.

Schefter's comment, made on ESPN/Milwaukee (WKTI-FM 94.5) and rehashed byAM-1000's Carmen & Jurko, basically said the unsigned first-round picks the Bears have are not a problem. However, he then brings up the memories of something Williams did in the past and stirs up fear the Bears QB might not be in camp when practice starts.

"They have made it such that these rookie deals are formalities," Schefter told ESPN/Milwaukee's Jen Lada, Mark Chmura and Gabe Neitzel. "But Caleb Williams really wants to kind of do his own thing, break the system, try to do things that are atypical and so that wouldn't surprise me if his situation lingered a little bit longer than most of these rookie situations that should be in this day and age just formalities."

The Bears don't need "lingering." They need their starting quarterback at camp for his rookie year.

Saying Williams plans to "break the system" is jumping to conclusions. There is basis in fact for something like this in the past.

It's easy to remember the rumors before the draft about how Williams was going to want to have a piece of the team that drafts him, that he wanted team shares.

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This report was never verified with any source anywhere by anyone. It was pure rumor and remains such until an actual sourced report says as much. His father, Carl, was viewed as the instigator of this unverified push push. Nothing came of it.

Fiction.

However, there was an instance where Williams was a rebel pushing against the system. He refused to undergo his physical at the combine and didn't let other teams have knowledge of his physical shape. Only the Bears got this.

There is a big difference here between what happened regarding the first instance, what happened with Williams and the combine physical, and finally what Schefter is only speculating about, because he did not say he has knowledge of what is going on in talks between the Bears and Williams' "people." Williams has no agent per se, although he is reportedly assisted by NFL sanctioned agent Tony Agnone.

For one, there are no written laws or rules about the pick being required to undergo a physical at the combine. It's just something teams have done and players mindlessly accepted until Williams.

This unverified desire to own shares of the team was and is against actual NFL rules.

That wasn't going to change unless they decided to take the NFL to court. Good luck with that and good luck getting a good contract in the league after that. He'd better have made a huge amount off that investment company he's said to have started and more than $10 million off his sponsorships in college to fund that kind of legal action because it's going to take a lot to pay the lawyers. They didn't pursue that, if they ever were going to do it or if this thought ever even existed.

As for the comment made by Schefter about Williams wants to "break the system," with his contract situation, the chances are even more remote of this happening.

Neither he nor anyone else is changing the way players are paid on their first contract because this is part of the collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the NFLPA with the owners. A slotted system isn't coming undone because someone allegedly wants more than they're allowed.

The system is what it is and unless they've got a way around labor law, it's standing intact.

Williams will simply need to sign and take his contract, which would be something just below $40 million according to the Spotrac.com projection for the first pick slot.

He might not even be opposed to this because Schefter's comments sounded more off the cuff than actual grapevine material.

Williams still has a week to sign his deal and actually three more days after that before reporting date for the full team. We'll see how much of a rebel he is then if nothing has happened in the talks.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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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.