Reported as completed Tuesday, the Bears’ negotiations with Caleb Williams may not be done just yet. As this is a modern rookie contract, a deal is expected to be finalized well before the season. But this year’s No. 1 pick asked for an unusual clause, representing one of the hold-ups.
Set to be tied to a fully guaranteed deal worth just more than $39MM in total, Williams is believed to have asked for a wrinkle only select veterans receive. The 2022 Heisman winner asked the Bears to include language in his rookie contract preventing them from applying the franchise tag at the conclusion of his first deal, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
No rookie has secured that term, and Florio adds the Bears made the expected move to decline their new quarterback’s ask. Dak Prescott secured this term with the Cowboys, while other passers — Kirk Cousins with the Vikings, Drew Brees during his final Saints years — were on de facto no-tag arrangements due to having been previously cuffed twice.
The tag represents a major tool at teams’ disposals. Removing it from the equation would set a fascinating precedent for the Bears and perhaps the No. 1 draft slot on the whole. Chicago continues to negotiate with Williams, but the team is not adding that clause.
Williams was loosely linked to a potential power play coming out of USC, but nothing transpired on this front. The USC standout could have conceivably pushed for a no-tag clause when determining whether to enter the draft, as the threat of him resuming his Trojans career — rather than joining the Bears — existed if this was especially important. That would have meant passing on a clear-cut path to the No. 1 draft slot and the money that comes with it. Regardless of the NIL era changing the game for current college standouts, Williams would not have been able to command that $39MM number as a college QB.
Quarterbacks rarely reach the tag precipice, generally being signed between their third and fourth seasons — when they become extension-eligible. Trevor Lawrence became the latest passer to take this route, one that gives QBs monster paydays early — replacing a rookie-deal fourth season — and provides teams with early control as the market skyrockets. But the tag gives teams considerable leverage during most negotiations.
Cousins and Prescott — as non-first-rounders — took different routes and ended up tagged. Lamar Jackson is the only first-round QB outlier in recent NFL history, failing to come to terms on a Ravens extension in 2021 or 2022. That led to a tag and a then-record-setting extension. Prescott also negotiated with the Cowboys for three offseasons and eventually used the threat of a second tag number clogging Dallas’ 2021 cap sheet as leverage to secure the terms he did. Williams’ camp undoubtedly paid attention to those proceedings, as team gives up considerable power in negotiations without a tag in the picture.
The Bears have not been in position to pay a homegrown QB for many years, seeing Mitch Trubisky and Justin Fields fail to warrant such commitments. Chicago did reward Jay Cutler with multiple extensions, but the eight-year Bears starter was a Broncos trade acquisition. If Williams shows promise early, the Bears will surely have a $60MM-plus windfall earmarked for 2027, when he first becomes eligible. The fifth-year option (for 2028) would come into play during the ’27 offseason, but the Bears will not allow a no-tag clause to be part of their QB1’s first NFL contract.