Bears QB Bagent ready to work with Williams

Bears backup quarterback Tyson Bagent shares quarterbacking tips with teenagers Sunday during the TB17 QB Workout, a free youth activity at the Nicholas Sportsplex in Mount Prospect.
Photo by Alexis Kowalsky

The Bears sent several players to meet and help evaluate No. 1 pick Caleb Williams before the draft.

Backup quarterback Tyson Bagent was not among them. As of Sunday afternoon, Bagent had not yet met with Williams.

“We talked a little bit over text,” Bagent said. “He seems like a really good guy, he seems excited to get to work, that’s all I care about.”

Bagent hosted a free quarterback camp at the Nicholas Sportsplex in Mount Prospect on Sunday with his father Travis and brother Ezra. His camps grew in his native West Virginia, and the family decided to settle him in Chicago.

“Just a fun thing.” There’s really no reason not to do it,” Bagent said. “Get involved in the community here and at home. The kids go out and throw it around a little bit, it kind of gives them hope that they can do what I do one day.

The Bears quarterback room will be interesting. The team decided last year to invest in Bagent, an undrafted free agent who played in college at Division 2 Shepherd University. He started four games when Justin Fields was injured and guided the Bears to two wins as a rookie.

Bagent’s job hasn’t changed, other than someone different sitting next to him in the QB room. The Bears added four-year veteran Brett Rypien over the winter, but Bagent appears to be the logical choice to return to the No. 2 spot this season.

So that gives the Bears a rookie and a second-year veteran at the most important position on the field.

“It doesn’t really change for me, I just try to be as prepared as possible,” Bagent said. “Offering the limited knowledge and experience I have to the guy who is No. 1 and truly being the best version of myself is really the only thing I’m focused on.”

What can Bagent offer Williams in terms of veteran advice? He’s already had one season in the NFL, although he wasn’t a decorated rookie, Heisman Trophy winner and first overall draft pick.

Bagent’s father, Travis, might have the answer. Travis Bagent is well known as a world arm wrestling champion. He spent Saturday night hosting (and winning) an arm wrestling tournament at Sideout’s Sports Tavern in Island Lake.

While Tyson is about as cold as a human can be, Travis is loud and the life of the party.

“There are several things I can do: organize an arm wrestling tournament, announce a sporting event and host a football camp,” Travis Bagent said on Sunday. “At least one soccer camp I want my kids to go to.”

Travis Bagent had one of his biggest successes in life when he was hired straight out of an arm wrestling tournament to work as an announcer for the Cross-Fit Games on ESPN, starting in 2009. After After watching Cross-Fit athletes in action, Bagent opened his own gym in the family garage in West Virginia.

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So Tyson grew up doing Cross-Fit, a kind of extreme fitness program. There are videos on YouTube of Tyson doing what’s called Hillbilly Cross-Fit in West Virginia, with improvised equipment.

“If Cross-Fit teaches you one thing, no matter how intimidating the situation is, keep going,” Travis said. “It’s not like you have to cross the finish line to keep working. So adversity and endurance are perhaps Tyson’s two best attributes.

“Work, no matter how bad it is, is just work and you have to keep moving forward. Before you know it, you have all this stamina. Once you have stamina, it doesn’t matter what happens today, because I’m fine. I’m going to come back tomorrow, and I don’t care.

In a nod to Bagent’s initials and the Bears’ jersey number, the first TB17 QB practice for area teens took place Sunday at the Nicholas Sportsplex in Mount Prospec.
Photo by Alexis Kowalsky

It’s unclear whether Williams is a fitness fanatic, but Bagent’s rise from West Virginia to the NFL is valuable experience. He had a rough second half in New Orleans last season, but returned the following Thursday to lead the Bears past Carolina.

“If you go too hard, you can’t go any further,” Travis said. “So there’s this 85% place that a good Cross-Fitter can kind of settle into and they never stop and they can handle a tremendous amount of adversity. When trying to be an NFL quarterback, you’re going to encounter a ton of obstacles.

This might be the week Bagent and Williams finally meet. Maybe it happened on Monday. Either way, the NFL’s youngest room QB has an interesting journey in store.

Twitter: @McGrawDHSports