Caleb Williams contract: Bears No. 1 draft pick remains unsigned on day of rookies reporting to training camp

Rookies are set to report to Chicago Bears training camp on July 16, but the Bears have a problem: neither first overall pick Caleb Williams nor ninth overall pick Rome Odunze have been signed. That isn’t bothering Williams at this point.

“I’m not handling that,” Williams said, via the Chicago Tribune, on Saturday. “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.”

However, the NFL Players Association is showing that Williams doesn’t have an NFLPA-certified agent, which means that he himself is required by union rules to negotiate directly with the Bears. This shouldn’t end being a huge deal because dollar amounts are slotted by draft spot, but there are different ways Williams could negotiate for when he gets paid his signing bonus, activities that will void guaranteed money and if Chicago would receive some cap relief for guaranteed money if/when a player is released or signs with a different squad. 

Once again, just like they were twice in the first 10 picks of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Bears are on the clock.