On the same day that rookies are expected to report back to Halas Hall for the start of training camp , the Chicago Bears have finalized one of their highly anticipated tasks with one of their rookies.
As announced on Tuesday, the Bears have officially signed ninth overall pick Rome Odunze to his rookie contract, he is now expected to be present for the start of training camp with the rest of the team's rookies later today.
The Bears are still in a lengthy contract negotiation with first overall pick Caleb Williams, which has created quite a stir on social media.
As Williams has stated multiple times, he's not handling his off the field business in the same fashion other NFL players typically do. For starters, Williams isn't represented by an NFLPA certified agent and instead is technically self-represented although he has a team of lawyers and attorneys who have been helping with the contract negotiations. Odunze, however, has been represented by Collin Roberts and Ryan Tollner of Excel Sports Management and has agreed to his deal, per Spotrac .
According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero , Odunze's deal with the Bears will be the expected four year deal with $22.7 million fully guaranteed. Ian Rapoport added that Odunze will also receive a $13.3 million signing bonus. Odunze will also have the fifth-year option given to all first round picks. By comparison, Malik Nabers, the New York Giants wide receiver selected with the sixth overall pick, signed a four-year, fully guaranteed $29.2 million deal with a $18 million signing bonus.
The rest of the team's veterans will report to camp on Friday, with the first closed practice session taking place on Saturday. Head coach Matt Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles will have media availability on Friday as well. Hopefully the deal with Williams, the team's only remaining unsigned rookie, gets wrapped up as well before then.
It's been rumored that the HBO "Hard Knocks" crew has been in the building capturing content for the documentary series since the beginning of the week, so perhaps we can see some behind the scenes footage of Odunze and eventually Williams putting pen to paper when the first episode airs on August 6th. Both Williams and Odunze have already appeared on the show during the "Hard Knocks" offseason with the New York Giants and fans are eager to see more of the top two draft picks.
With this deal now finally behind us, all eyes turn to Williams before we can focus all of our attention to what's happening on the field at Halas Hall during training camp with hopefully no more distractions taking place after that deal gets done.
Related: Chicago Bears' rookie class set to report for their first NFL training camp on Tuesday at Halas Hall
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