Current:Home > reviewsBears finally come to terms with first-round picks, QB Caleb Williams and WR Rome Odunze -AssetBase
Bears finally come to terms with first-round picks, QB Caleb Williams and WR Rome Odunze
View
Date:2025-04-16 17:41:54
Tuesday was the first day of training camp for the Chicago Bears' rookies – two of them becoming very rich men just in the nick of time.
Quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receiver Rome Odunze became among the league's final first-round draft picks of 2024 to reach terms on their initial NFL contracts. This year's No. 1 overall pick out of USC, Williams, per reports, agreed a four-year pact worth a fully guaranteed $39.5 million ($25.5 million of it earmarked as a signing bonus) by slotting at the the top of the board. Widely projected as a generational prospect, he joins a roster much stronger than most top selections enjoy and could immediately restore Chicago to contending status.
Odunze, a University of Washington product chosen ninth overall, is expected to be one of Williams' top targets well into the future – though he may have to take a backseat to the likes of veteran wideouts DJ Moore and Keenan Allen and established tight end Cole Kmet in 2024. Odunze is guaranteed $22.7 million over the next four seasons.
As first-rounders, Williams and Odunze could be retained on balloon payment fifth-year options in 2028 assuming they've fulfilled expectations to that point but haven't yet signed extensions (both will be eligible for one in 2027).
NFL OFFSEASON GRADES: Bears break curve with only A+
All things Bears: Latest Chicago Bears news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.
Coming off a 7-10 season, Chicago is looking for its first playoff campaign since 2020 and first postseason win since the 2010 season but will have to successfully navigate a highly competitive NFC North to meet those objectives.
Bears veterans are set to report to camp Friday. Chicago is among the league's first teams to show up for work this summer since it will kick off the preseason Aug. 1 against the Houston Texans in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio.
***Follow USA TODAY Sports' Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter, @ByNateDavis.
veryGood! (735)
Related
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Dear U.N.: Could you add these 4 overlooked items to the General Assembly agenda?
- Young Latinos unable to carry on a conversation in Spanish say they are shamed by others
- Speaker McCarthy says there’s still time to prevent a government shutdown as others look at options
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- A sculptor and a ceramicist who grapple with race win 2023 Heinz Awards for the Arts
- What Biden's unwavering support for autoworkers in UAW strike says about the 2024 election
- Search for missing Idaho woman resumes after shirt found mile from abandoned car, reports say
- NHL in ASL returns, delivering American Sign Language analysis for Deaf community at Winter Classic
- Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth football coach, dies 6 months after being hit by pickup while cycling
Ranking
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- Dodgers pitcher Brusdar Graterol pitches in front of mom after 7 years apart: 'Incredible'
- LA councilman who rebuffed Biden’s call to resign after racism scandal is running for reelection
- Biden Finds Funds to Launch an ‘American Climate Corps’ With Existing Authority Congress Has Given to Agencies
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- Texas teacher fired over Anne Frank graphic novel. The complaint? Sexual content
- Kraft recall: American cheese singles recalled for potential gagging, choking hazard
- Fentanyl, guns found at another NYC home with child after death at day care
Recommendation
Jamie Foxx gets stitches after a glass is thrown at him during dinner in Beverly Hills
Judge orders Phoenix to permanently clear the city’s largest homeless encampment by Nov. 4
Tuberville tries to force a vote on single military nomination as he continues blockade
Sports Illustrated Resorts are coming to the US, starting in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
Another endangered Florida panther struck and killed by vehicle — the 62nd such fatality since 2021
Trump launches his fall push in Iowa to lock in his lead before the first Republican caucuses
Illinois man pleads guilty to trying to burn down planned abortion clinic