Caleb Williams hit with Bears contract warning but coach details how he can reach next level

Caleb Williams made a massive leap in his sophomore season.

He entered the NFL as the No. 1 overall pick in 2024, drafted by the Chicago Bears.

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Year 1 wasn’t explosive, as Williams was thrown in at the deep end and named starting quarterback a month after the draft.

The Bears struggled to a 5-12 finish in his first season, but their young signal caller did end up with multiple franchise rookie passing records for completions, yards, and touchdown passes.

In his sophomore season, Williams showed out.

Under new head coach Ben Johnson, Chicago improved to 11-6, and won the competitive NFC North division.

Their first playoff win since 2010 followed, against their great rival the Green Bay Packers.

Williams came up clutch in that contest, and earned himself a new ‘Iceman’ nickname as he arrived on the postseason stage.

The Bears eventually fell just short against the Los Angeles Rams in the Divisional Round, losing in overtime at Soldier Field.

But 2025 was a clear success for Chicago, and with HC Johnson overseeing Williams’ continued growth, the future looks very bright — even if it might not be as lucrative for the quarterback as some have thought.

Caleb Williams not deserving of Bears contract extension, ex-scout claims

While he’s already established himself as the face of the franchise, the 24-year-old has been hit with a reality check from a former NFL scout over any potential new deal.

“Caleb Williams isn’t getting a contract extension from the Bears for two reasons,” ex-New York Jets scout Daniel Kelly wrote on X, under his @FirstRoundMock account.

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“1. Bears ownership has no history of breaking the bank for quarterbacks they have drafted in the first round dating back to Jim McMahon (1982-1988).

“The business model with their most recent first-round selections Mitch Trubisky (2017-2020) and Justin Fields (2021-2023) was just playing them on their rookie deals.

“2. There’s no need to break the bank for a quarterback like Williams who has an NFL career completion percentage of 60.3%.

“Quarterbacks with that level of accuracy are easy to find through the draft or free agency for minimal investment.

“For example, Tyrod Taylor had a completion percentage of 59.7% last season (he signed a 1-year deal with the Packers for $2.8 million).

“Joe Flacco had a 60.3% completion percentage last season (he signed a 1-year deal with the Bengals for $6 million). That’s the fair market value for that level of accuracy.”

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As well as rating Williams as a $6m quarterback, Kelly suggested his accuracy is a problem that needs to be fixed.

“Williams accuracy is also on a downward trend,” the former scout added.

“He went from 62.5% in 2024 to 58.1% during the regular season to 52.2% in the 2025 playoffs.

“Quarterbacks in that accuracy range are a dime a dozen. Better yet, they could just turn things over to Tyson Bagent as a bridge quarterback who has a career completion percentage of 66.4%.

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“Bagent was an undrafted free agent out of Division II Shepherd University and he is currently on a two-year contract for $10 million.”

Kelly’s analysis, shared Sunday, quickly drew backlash from Bears fans on social media.

Many took issue with looking solely at completion percentage to rate quarterbacks, and argued that Williams will likely reset the market when he’s eligible for a contract extension next year, and that Chicago will want to lock him down early.

As of now, he will continue to play under the four-year, $39.49m fully guaranteed deal he signed as the No. 1 pick in 2024.

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With the new season fast approaching, he has also been tipped to make another leap forward that could help him improve his completion percentage, which ex-scout Kelly deems so important.

Bears coach details how he’s taking Caleb Williams to next level

In his second season, Williams gained a reputation for coming up big when it mattered most, due to his ability to make incredible throws on a consistent basis, and extend plays when needed.

That no doubt is exciting to watch, but Chicago’s quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett believes it’ll be better for his young star to simply ‘take what the defense gives him’ on occasion.

“He’s been great this entire time with being able to coach him up and look at it from a lens of these are areas where we’re going to improve,” Barrett told reporters last week.

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“With that, he’s been great as far as accepting the coaching. For him, it was one of those things where we don’t have to work as hard for our money.

“There’s times where we could just work through our progression and get the ball out on time instead of having to create and extend plays.

“So that was more of a conversation where it was like, ‘Hey, my guy, I know you just made this crazy play. That was really cool. But we had a guy come open wide underneath that you just pop it to and then he does the running, and now you’re not as tired.’

“We’re having those conversations with him to help him realize, ‘Hey, I don’t have to do as much,’ compared to maybe past years or him playing in general. That’s been a positive.”

In 2025, Williams threw for 3,942 yards, 27 touchdowns and just seven interceptions as Johnson established his new offense.

The highlight plays will no doubt still feature, but the young QB will soon be able to find a better balance to his game.

After all, legends like Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger quickly established reputations for providing eye-catching moments, before learning that sort of play isn’t required week in, week out.

If Williams can do the same, he’ll be on a very special career path.

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