(670 The Score) Bears rookies are scheduled to report for training camp next Tuesday at Halas Hall, and two of their top first-year players still haven't signed their contracts.
Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams (the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft) and receiver Rome Odunze (the No. 9 selection) haven't yet signed their rookie deals. Those contracts are standard in base value, as set through the 2011 collective bargaining agreement’s creation of the rookie wage scale. But the agreements can be complicated by three main factors, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk explained on the Mully & Haugh Show on Tuesday morning.
“There’s three categories for a potential dispute,” Florio said. “One, when do I get my signing bonus money? Do I get it all now or are you trying to defer it later this year into next year, whatever? Two, what does it take to void my ongoing guarantees? That was the Roquan Smith holdout (in 2018). What is it that I could do that potentially allows you to say, ‘We’re wiping out your guarantees and we’re cutting you because you’re one of the first-round picks that doesn’t work out.’ Because we know that roughly half of them don’t. And finally, if the full guarantees are in place and we cut you, can you double dip? Do you get offsets attached to whatever you would make if you go to another team. Those are the three. That’s it. There’s really nothing else that you can haggle about.”
Williams and Odunze are among five first-round picks who are still unsigned as of Tuesday morning. Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, Vikings edge rusher Dallas Turner and Bengals offensive tackle Amarius Mims also haven't signed yet.
Williams’ negotiations could also be complicated by the fact that he hasn't hired an agent to represent him.
The Bears will hold their first practice of training camp on July 20 at Halas Hall.
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