If you speak to most athletes, they will admit that their overarching goal is to reach the point in their careers when they land their first massive contract. The one that sets them and their families up for life. In the NFL, that is the second contract. It is when a player is reaching their physical prime. If they play well leading up to that point, they stand to make an enormous amount of money. Especially if you’re a quarterback. Everybody knows what awaits Caleb Williams. The former #1 pick is riding high after leading the Chicago Bears to the playoffs in 2025. If he can build on that season this year, he’ll have $65 million a year waiting for him.
Just don’t bother bringing it up to Williams. While several of his quarterback colleagues might be focused on positioning themselves for that payday, he is not. He made that clear to Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times. Money is nice. It isn’t what motivates him, though.
“Money’s not a motivating factor for me in that sense,” he said. “If I wanted to be done today, I’d be fine. If I wanted to be done and go somewhere and disappear for a long time and never come back and y’all would never see me again, I’d be OK. That’s not my motivation.
“Winning, winning, winning handles everything… so that’s where my mind’s at.”
Williams has great business acumen, undoubtedly instilled by his father, Carl Williams, who is himself a successful businessman. The quarterback already made millions in NIL deals during his stint at USC and another sizable chunk when he got his rookie contract from the Bears. He is not hurting for cash. His motivation is about legacy. He wants to be the greatest, both in Chicago and the NFL.
“I obviously want to be here forever,” Williams said. “That’s a goal of mine: to be at one place until I’m done, until I decide that it’s over for me and I want to go home and ride off into the sun… I’ll be here.”
Caleb Williams has a mindset similar to Tom Brady.
Amidst the many things the G.O.A.T accomplished during his legendary career, people often overlook what he did on the business front. Not many people remember that Brady routinely took discounts on his contract during his career, earning far less per year than he probably should’ve. He ranked 1st in the NFL only once in his career, in 2010, and that didn’t even last the full season. In fact, there were seven instances where he didn’t even crack the top 10. That is unheard of for most top quarterbacks these days.
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The reasoning was simple to him. By sacrificing some of his own money, he knew the New England Patritos would be able to use it to get talent at other positions. You saw this benefit the organization many times as they managed to land several big names they probably wouldn’t have if not for the cap wiggle room Brady gave them. When you listen to Caleb Williams talk, it sounds like he has a similar mindset. Being the highest-paid guy means nothing to him. He’ll earn plenty of money in his career. He wants rings.
Actions speak louder than words.
We’ll see how the quarterback truly feels about it when the time comes to actually negotiate. It doesn’t sound like the Bears are anticipating a bitter process. They already made Darnell Wright the highest-paid right tackle in the game. This organization is more than prepared to reward its own players. General manager Ryan Poles has hinted several times that he’s already setting future money aside to ensure the team has enough to lock Williams up long-term. The only determining factors will be guarantees and the average per year.
Right now, Patrick Mahomes is the top dog at $64 million per year. No surprise there. Dak Prescott is the next closest at $60 million. If the Bears can somehow drop Williams in between those two, it would be a major victory. While the contract would be expensive at first, it would become cheaper soon after as other young quarterbacks like Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, Bryce Young, Sam Darnold, and C.J. Stroud pursue new paydays. Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen could also seek raises.
