Bears' roster built to for Caleb Williams to win now, but it'll help Tyson Bagent, too
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Bears’ Caleb Williams is in arguably an unprecedentedly favorable situation for a rookie starting quarterback, and those benefits will apply to Tyson Bagent as well.
In a perfect world for the Bears, Bagent won’t play a meaningful snap this season, but the tumult of the NFL schedule forces most teams to turn to their backup at some point. Nine quarterbacks started every game last season, and only Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff took every snap for their team.
Bagent started for the Bears in their preseason finale Thursday at the Chiefs and looked sharp while playing with Tyler Scott, DeAndre Carter and Nsimba Webster at wide receiver, as well as fourth-stringers in tight end Stephen Carlson and running back Travis Homer. He completed 3 of 6 passes for 57 yards and a five-yard touchdown run in two possessions to finish the preseason schedule with a 119.0 passer rating.
The Bears and Chiefs held their starters out with the regular season just two weeks away. The Bears open Sept. 8 against the Titans, and the Chiefs kick off the NFL season with the Ravens three days before that.
Between that and his solid production in practice, Bagent decisively won the back-up quarterback job over veteran Brett Rypien. The Bears listed them both as second-string throughout the preseason.
Among the skill players in with Bagent on Thursday, Scott was the only one who is a lock to make the regular-season roster when the Bears must cut it from 90 to 53 by Tuesday. If Bagent is needed during the season, he’ll level up with D.J. Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet and D’Andre Swift.
In addition to his individual work, the stronger cast around him should help Bagent take a significant step forward.
“Everybody has got the potential to be an All-Pro,” Bagent said. “It's a lot of fun. It's a lot more options than last year.”
The lack of threats in the passing game hurt Bagent as much as it did Justin Fields last season. They had Moore, who had a career-high 1,364 yards receiving, but little else as Darnell Mooney struggled and Chase Claypool became such a problem that the Bears were done with him after three games.
Bagent was intriguing and compelling as he climbed from obscurity as an undrafted rookie from Division II Shepherd University to beat out veterans P.J. Walker and Nathan Peterman for the No. 2 job, but looked like he had a long way to go once he actually played.
He helped the Bears throttle the sputtering Raiders in his starting debut, but spiraled in losses to the Chargers and Saints, then crawled past the lowly Panthers before Fields returned. There were sparks at times, but the final tally on Bagent was underwhelming: six interceptions and a 71.4 passer rating over five games.
No one expects him to play like Williams, but every team hopes its backup quarterback can keep it afloat if he has to step in for a stint. The Bears are asking him to be steady, not necessarily spectacular. That should be much easier for Bagent with an improved roster.
He also looks more at ease in his second season, and the most recent episode of “Hard Knocks” showed him mentioning that to Williams as they waited for a meeting to start. It also featured former MVP Matt Ryan, a college teammate of general manager Ryan Poles, pointing out how much better he looks.
“It’s all just smoother and more comfortable for me,” Bagent said.
Bagent has been a discover-and-develop success story for the Bears, and there’s nothing but upside for them given that he has been a good teammate sitting behind Fields and Williams. He’s only 24, and the Bears have him under contract cheaply for next season and have first right of refusal when he becomes a restricted free agent in 2026.
If Bagent is a capable backup, that’s a win for the Bears. If he exceeds that projection and becomes a valuable trade piece, that’s just as good. It’s a worthwhile endeavor either way.
It was a glaring error that the Bears never invested in a developmental project like Bagent when they had Mitch Trubisky at quarterback. They also didn’t have one the first season under Poles and coach Matt Eberflus.
Rypien, a 28-year-old who has played 10 games in five seasons, had insider information on the offense from spending a month with coordinator Shane Waldron on the Seahawks last season. The Bears can keep him in-house by giving him a roster spot — he could be inactive but available on game days as the emergency third quarterback — or seeing if they can stash him on their practice squad.
Rypien came in for Bagent and played the rest of the first half. He completed 9 of 13 passes for 106 yards, led the Bears to two field goals and finished with a 120.9 passer rating for the preseason.
Austin Reed, who went undrafted this year out of Western Kentucky, could land on the practice squad as well. He opened the third quarter by capping a 92-yard drive with a six-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Sweeney.
Assembling a strong quarterback room matters because everything that pertains to Williams matters. Setting up a viable contingency plan and stacking the room with backups who will have a positive effect on Williams is all part of the Bears’ effort to make sure they do everything right with their franchise quarterback this time, as opposed to years past.