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Sportv Bears reach deals with 1st-rounders Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze
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‘NFL Live’ crew react to Caleb Williams signing Bears contract (1:50)
Dan Orlovsky and Field Yates look at what lies ahead for Caleb Williams with the Chicago Bears after he signed a four-year rookie contract that is worth $39 million fully guaranteed. (1:50)
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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff WriterJul 16, 2024, 03:46 PM ET
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- Courtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings before switching to the Chicago Bears in 2022. Courtney is a frequent panelist on Around the Horn and host of Best Week Ever on ESPN Radio. She also co-hosts The Chicago Bears Podcast on ESPN 1000. She previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News as a multimedia sports journalist.
CHICAGO — On the day rookies reported to Halas Hall for training camp, quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Rome Odunze — the first and ninth overall picks drafted by the Bears — signed their respective first-round rookie contracts Tuesday.
Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Williams signed a four-year deal worth $39.4 million with a $25.5 million signing bonus. The Bears announced Odunze’s signing earlier in the afternoon, which is a four-year contract worth $22.7 million and containing a $13.3 million signing bonus.
Both contracts are fully guaranteed and contain a fifth-year option in 2028.
Chicago will begin training camp practices on July 20 after veterans report this Friday. The Bears and Texans are the first teams to begin training camp ahead of facing each other in the annual Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 1.
Williams and Odunze were among the last five first-round draft picks to sign their contracts. Williams, who is not represented by an NFLPA-certified agent, had expressed optimism that the team around him would handle his negotiations while he prepares for his first preseason.
“I’m not handling that,” Williams told The Chicago Tribune during his inaugural Caleb Cares Foundation event in Chicago last 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.”
The Bears will be featured on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” for the first time since the annual training camp miniseries began in the early 2000s.
