Through His Father, Caleb Williams Explored Playing For The Ufl For A Year And Joining Nfl As A Free Agent

Beyond attempting to devise a strategy for avoiding the Bears in the draft, quarterback Caleb Williams explored a strategy for avoiding the draft altogether.

In the ESPN.com article based on reporting from Seth Wickersham's upcoming book, American Kings: A Biography of the Quarterback, Wickersham explains that Carl Williams, Caleb's father, looked into the possibility of joining the UFL for a year and heading to the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2025. Per Wickersham, Carl Williams met with labor lawyers and agents to come up with a way to circumvent the system.

As to the possibility of a year in the UFL, it wouldn't have worked. Beyond the fact that Caleb Williams would have made peanuts under the UFL's labor deal, not signing after being drafted in 2024 would have put him back in the draft pool for 2025. If a player sits out a second year of being drafted, he enters the league the next year as an undrafted free agent.

Obviously, if his move to the UFL had resulted in no one drafting him at all, Williams would have instantly become an undrafted free agent in 2024. Surely, however, someone would have taken a late-round flier on Williams's rights.

There's a separate problem with the approach. Every team has a fixed allotment for UDFA pay. Williams would have gotten a very low salary (relative to his No. 1 overall pick compensation) for three years. Then, he would have been eligible for restricted free agency. After four year, he would have been eligible for unrestricted free agency — and, of course, the franchise tag.

Carl Williams looked under every rock because he regards the rookie wage scale as a petrified chunk of something that fell from the back of a cow.

"The rookie cap is just unconstitutional," Carl Williams told Wickersham. He also said that the NFL's CBA is the "worst piece of shit I've ever read."

This specific story highlights the impressive business concepts that Carl Williams brought to the table. We reported two years ago that Carl Williams was letting it be known to prospective agents that Caleb wanted equity in the team that drafted him. (The league has since passed a rule preventing it.) Carl Williams also proposed revolutionary tax strategies during negotiations with the Bears, like paying Caleb as an LLC and treating his pay as a forgivable loan, making the money tax free until the loan was forgiven.

Ultimately, Carl and Caleb relented. The Bears hold Caleb's exclusive rights for four years, with the availability of a fifth-year option. After that, Caleb can be franchise-tagged up to three times.

That's the only way a first-round pick can force his way to freedom. Eight years. While the maximum more likely would be seven based on the cost of a third franchise tag, a player who is determined to go wherever he wants is looking at up to eight seasons with the team that picked him before he can secure true freedom of choice.