Insight on Caleb Williams' visit with the Bears reveals one leader is expected to be in the team's long-term plans

The Chicago Bears had a long and drawn out process toward selecting quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and rightfully so.

With the draft now behind us and everything official, Williams is the Bears next franchise quarterback and hopefully one who will last for years to come.

The process wasn’t easy when it comes to committing the team's future to highest graded prospect we've seen in years, as laid out by Albert Breer in his latest column.

One of the major boxes left for Williams to check off the Bears' list before the team was ready to make things official involved Williams meeting with some of the team leaders in the locker room.

“You can’t fool the locker room,” general manager Ryan Poles told Breer. “We got this roster and our leadership group, the core of it, in a really good place. They’re a bunch of really good human beings, so I thought it was important for them to be a part of this journey and this decision. I wanted them to make sure that they saw for themselves what this kid stood for and his passion for the game. I just felt like that was really important."

Williams clearly passed that final test with flying colors but the most intriguing part of that meeting is who was sitting across from Williams at the table, not the test itself.

According to Breer, Williams met with tight end Cole Kmet, linebacker T.J. Edwards, wide receiver DJ Moore, and offensive guard Teven Jenkins in a private room that evening. One name in particular stands out from that list for a very obvious reason.

Of those four players listed, only one of them has yet to be paid and solidified in the team's long-term plans. Yet, he was still present during an important phase toward determining the franchise's future.

That player is of course Jenkins, who is currently set to enter into the final year of his rookie contract in 2024. The Bears drafted Jenkins with the 39th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft prior to hiring Poles as general manager.

Even though he didn’t draft Jenkins, Poles clearly views the former second round pick with high regard in terms of being a leader in the locker room and he is the one who can return that favor by rewarding Jenkins for his role on the team.

While it hasn’t happened yet, an extension for Jenkins should be toward the top of Poles' to-do list following the draft and could be worked out over the next two months. Poles rewarded Kmet, another player on that list of leaders, last summer after ironing out a 4-year, $50 million extension in July.

Given his play on the field, Jenkins is more than deserving of a new deal to remain in Chicago, even if he has dealt with his fair share of injuries. Now that we know he's viewed as a big part of the locker room along with being tasked with protecting the team's future at quarterback, it only makes more sense to prioritize getting it done.