Analysis: ESPN’s Adam Schefter has described Caleb Williams as someone who wants to “break the system,” but the method for bringing people into the league is rock-solid. Given the source of the comment on Caleb Williams’ contract situation, it is certain to generate a stir among Bears supporters.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter, a leading specialist on NFL negotiations, branded the Bears quarterback as a rogue who seeks to upset the system. Schefter’s comment, broadcast on ESPN/Milwaukee (WKTI-FM 94.5) and repeated by AM-1000’s Carmen & Jurko, simply stated that the Bears’ unsigned first-round picks are not a concern. However, he then brings up the recollections of something Williams did in the past and raises the fear that the Bears QB would not be at camp when practicing
“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 in camp for his debut season.
To say Williams intends to “break the system” is to jump to conclusions. There is historical precedent for something like this.
It’s easy to recall the rumors before the selection about how Williams
He is going to want to be a part of the team that drafts him, and he wants team shares. Nobody has ever validated this information using any source. It was all hearsay, and it will stay such until an actual source confirms it. His father, Carl, was blamed for instigating this dubious push. Nothing came from it.
Fiction.
However, there was one case in which Williams was a rebel fighting against the system. He declined to take his physical at the combine and did not let other clubs know about his physical condition. Only the Bears have this.
There is a significant distinction between what happened in the first instance, what happened with Williams during the combine physical, and ultimately what Schefter is just speculating about, because he has not stated that he is aware of what is going on in conversations between the Bears and Williams’ “people.” Williams does not have an agency per technically, although he is supposedly represented by NFL-approved agent Tony Agnone.
For example, there are no written regulations or procedures requiring the pick to have a physical at the combine. Until Williams, it was simply something that teams did and players accepted without question.
This unconfirmed intent to own team stock was and continues to be against NFL rules.
That was unlikely to change unless they decided to take the NFL to court. successful luck with that, and best wishes for a successful contract in the league afterward. He’d better have made a lot of money from that investment business he’s supposed to have created, as well as more than $10 million from his college sponsorships, to support that kind of legal action, because paying the lawyers will be expensive. They didn’t follow it, assuming they ever planned to do so, or if the concept ever existed at all.
Regarding Schefter’s comment about Williams wanting to “break the system,” given his contract position, the chances of this happening are considerably lower.
He, nor anyone else, is changing the way players are compensated on their first contract because it is part of the collective bargaining agreement signed by the NFLPA with owners. A slotted system will not be undone simply because someone claims to want more than they are permitted.
The system is what it is, and unless they find a way around labor law, it will remain intact.
Williams will just sign and accept his contract, which is expected to be somewhat less than $40 million based on Spotrac.com’s forecast for the first selection spot.
He might not even be averse to this because Schefter’s comments seemed more impromptu than genuine grapevine stuff.
Williams still has a week to sign his contract, and three more days until the complete team’s reporting date. If nothing happens in the negotiations, we’ll see how rebellious he is.
Leave a Reply