After Shane Waldron was fired on Tuesday, Marc Silverman of ESPN 1000 released an interesting bit of inside information. First, several players in the locker room approached GM Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus about making a change at offensive coordinator. That wasn’t a surprise. There’d been rumblings for weeks that guys were frustrated with Waldron. However, the much bigger bombshell is that a couple of veterans asked if they would consider benching Caleb Williams in favor of Tyson Bagent.
That came out of left field. Yes, the last three weeks haven’t gone well for Williams. He has looked skittish, uncertain, and overwhelmed. Even so, to call for his benching after how well he played in October feels like a massive overreaction. Well, it appears Silvy may have slipped up. A person on Reddit noted that the source of this rumor was Bagent’s father, Travis Bagent. This sort of rumor happened last year when Justin Fields was struggling, too. Now, it just so happens to pop up again.
Remember that Cole Kmet vehemently denied that anybody in the locker room asked for Williams to be benched. The Bears tight end isn’t known for lying. Brad Biggs, one of the top team insiders, also said it wasn’t true, lending this theory further credence.
Caleb Williams getting sabotaged by the father of Tyson Bagent sounds crazy.
That is, until you see the man in person. Travis Bagent is a world arm wrestling champion. He is also a boisterous personality. The guy is a talker in every sense of the word. He is also a massive proponent of his son’s success. Somebody as competitive and self-confident as him would be more than willing to drop some leaks to the press about the Bears locker room getting fed up with Williams. If it ends up getting his son another shot at stealing the starting job or impressing other NFL teams, that’s great.
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Is it underhanded? Absolutely. Caleb Williams doesn’t deserve that sort of treatment. However, the NFL is a cutthroat business. Such tactics are hardly uncommon. Some guys will do almost anything to get ahead. All we can say is at least head coach Matt Eberflus had enough common sense not to give that rumor any legs. He immediately shot it down by saying Williams is the starter. Nothing else was ever considered. One thing is certain. If this is true, Tyson Bagent better get his dad under control. Otherwise, he’ll be out of a job.
