USC Football Rumors: Caleb Williams' Insane Ask for Potential NFL Team
The 2024 NFL draft is highlighted by a couple of big names at the top, which includes your Trojans QB Caleb Williams.
Williams is widely expected to be the top pick in the draft (or at least he was until USC imploded on national TV against Notre Dame this past Saturday), which means teams are willing to put all their eggs in the Caleb basket, and let him take the reigns of their franchise.
This gives Williams a lot of autonomy and power, but it seems like he wants more autonomy and power than any player in NFL history has ever gotten, and that's equity.
Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the USC junior wants partial ownership from the NFL team that plans to select him in the 2024 Draft.
This is definitely a questionable ask to say the least, as PFT mentions that Aaron Rodgers had tried doing the same thing with the Jets, but the NFL barred it from happening.
Broadly, it's really unlikely that the reigning Heisman Trophy winner genuinely believes that any team would give him equity, and probably sees the maneuver as some form of posturing and as a negotiation tactic.
More than likely, however, is that Williams just gets a hefty signing bonus, tons of endorsements and brand deals, and the largest contract in the draft due to the slot he'd be picked at, still giving him more than enough money to work with to start off his career.
This excludes his involvement with NIL initiatives in the status quo at USC, as he's forecasted to earn $2.6M in NIL money this season alone, with that number likely soaring due to an increasing number of collectives affiliated with the university and the highest overall valuation in the Pac-12.
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