Are the Bears taking advantage of Caleb Williams' rookie contract window? (Hour 2)
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How are the Bears maximizing Caleb Williams' rookie contract window?
On the fake, Williams. Looking downfield. Launching downfield. Going for it all! It is caught! Bears win it! D.J.
Moore!
That is the voice of Kevin Burkhardt, courtesy of Fox Sports. You know that play. Do I even need to remind you? Why not? Why not remind you that the Bears beat the Packers on a Saturday night here and then beat them again in the playoffs? I feel like that's a good reminder. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score, and today is June 2nd. June 1st is an important day in the NFL as it denotes when you can have a lot of flexibility on the roster. We saw that with a couple of trades. One we saw coming in A.J. Brown going to New England from Philly. The other one we did not seeing coming. Picks, of course, from the Los Angeles Rams along with Jared Verse going to Cleveland to get the defensive player of the year and now single season sack record holder, Miles Garrett.
Some big deals got done yesterday. It's also just a really good time for NFL housekeeping for a lot of other transactions if teams want to choose, Marshall.
Yeah, and we'll be talking with Daryl Ryder. He is the Browns beat writer for 92-3, the fan in Cleveland coming up at 1225. But Layla, I got to tell you, my immediate reaction to not only this trade that sends Miles Garrett to Los Angeles, but rumors that the Packers may be interested in Josh Sweat. Although the GM, Brian Gunakutz, says there is no trade as of now. Right. It just really opened my eyes to the fact that because of the Bears' offseason and their lack of thump in the offseason, their lack of a move that moved this defense forward in a way that would have had people excited about what's to come. And they talk about coaching guys up who are already on the roster. Caleb Williams is entering year three in the NFL.
He has a four-year contract with a fifth-year club option, which we all assume will be picked up. He's set to make next year have a cap hit of $10 million.
That is nothing for a quarterback.
The following year in 2027, $12.5 million.
What recent trades have impacted the Bears' strategy?
Still pretty much nothing.
It is so important that when you have a player of his caliber, and we don't know how good he'll be next year. We have a bar that was set in 2025, which is pretty high, I would argue. But if he's just as good as he was last year or slightly better... You're getting such value there if you go back to a guy who just, I guess, semi-retired in Russell Wilson who's going to join the NFL on CBS. The reason the Seahawks were able to go to two straight Super Bowls and win a Super Bowl with him is because they took advantage of his rookie contract. And now with this Miles Garrett news and the news of all these other teams who either were in the playoffs or on the perch of the playoffs getting better, It feels like the Bears are being left behind, and I don't see, as of right now, them taking advantage of this rookie contract in the way that I had hoped.
And I feel like the door has closed already on that specific window of the Bears being Super Bowl contenders. Because I thought the Bears were going to be Super Bowl contenders this year, but I go back to that game. against the Rams who are now looking all world and there's talk that Aaron Donald might come back?
That's the other part of this. And they had cap space, Marshall. That's important to note here. Because as we know, Miles Garrett's AAV is about $40 million. And they had cap space to work with to be able to move money around. And then you hear that Aaron Donald might be motivated. That's motivated. When you found out that you were always teetering on retirement, but you never filed the paperwork, and maybe there's a chance. And you've been working out, as you show us, Aaron Donald did. And then you find out that the Rams, who were so close to making the Super Bowl and the hardest division in football... And it was the Seahawks stopping them, which means they knew exactly how they had to match resources with Seattle if they wanted to compete.
You can't just build it on offense. We saw that. And then you see that they got Miles Garrett.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How are the Bears maximizing Caleb Williams' rookie contract window?
0:02–2:27
2
What recent trades have impacted the Bears' strategy?
2:27–6:51
3
What challenges does Caleb Williams face in his upcoming season?
6:51–10:38
4
How does the Bears' offseason compare to other teams?
10:38–26:40
5
What insights does Ian Happ provide about the Cubs' performance?
26:40–31:11
6
How does the Cubs' schedule affect their gameplay?
31:11–42:18
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Rahimi & Grote Show
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Bears are in a race to improve defense as they prepare to face Vikings (Hour 1)