Friday’s exhibition game will be the last anyone sees Tyson Bagent for a while. That’s what the Bears hope, at least.
On some level, Bagent does, too.
“If everything goes well … I’ll be watching a lot of football this year,” Bagent said.
Such is the life of an NFL second-string quarterback, who’s either the popular player in town or someone fans hope their favorite team never has to use. Bagent will be the latter this year, even though he’s putting together his third-straight lights-out preseason.
The Bears need to find out what they have in Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick a year ago, and any snap without him on the field works against that goal. Williams, who will start Friday’s exhibition game in Kansas City before giving way to Bagent, won’t come off the field during the regular season unless he gets hurt or there’s a blowout in the fourth quarter. That was the case last year, when Williams played 98.9% of the Bears’ snaps.
Bagent, though, has given the Bears confidence that he can excel were Williams to get hurt.
“This means the world to me,” Bagent said Sunday. “This is my life’s work being put into work right here in front of everybody. It means a lot to me. But I’m really just trying to get better. … Bank as many reps as possible and be as ready as I can be for the long season that is coming.”
Maybe he’ll be needed during that long season, maybe he won’t. He’ll be essential nonetheless — the modern NFL requires contending teams to have backup quarterbacks that can win games. He did well two years ago in that role, going 2-2 in four rookie starts when Justin Fields was hurt.
Every time Bagent plays well in the preseason, a section of the fan base wonders exactly what the Bears could get in return were they to trade him. Short of a bonkers offer, though, Bagent is undoubtedly worth more to the Bears than whatever draft pick he’d bring back in return. After all, he’s one rolled ankle away from running the offense.
Bagent is controllable for two more years — after playing out his three-year contract this season, he’ll become a restricted free agent, which would allow the Bears to keep him one more year with little penalty.
Williams has a preternatural ability to throw on the run — “A magician,” Bagent said — but his backup is athletic enough that the Bears run a similar playbook for him. That’s not the case with third-stringer Case Keenum.
“I would love to be able to be dynamic both on my feet extending plays, gaining first downs with my feet, as well as in the pocket,” Bagent said.
Asked if he was underrated in that regard, Bagent smiled.
“I mean, how many times do you have to do something for it to still be underrated?” he said.
Members of the Bears scouting squinted and saw Bagent’s potential four years ago, eventually projecting a starting grade on the undrafted Shepherd University who set the Div. II record with 17,034 career passing yards.
Since the Bears signed him, he’s been one of the best preseason quarterbacks in the league. Among quarterbacks with at least 35 dropbacks this preseason, Bagent ranks third in Pro Football Focus’ passing grade and eighth in passer rating. In 2023, he ranked fifth in PFF’s passing grade among quarterbacks who took at least 20% of their team’s snaps. Last year, he ranked first in PFF’s passing grade and second in passer rating among those who played at least one-fifth of the time.
“The harder I work,” Bagent said, “the luckier I get.”
The Bears consider him their hardest worker, and pairing him with coach Ben Johnson has only raised his ceiling. That wasn’t the case with Bagent’s last four — count them, four — Bears offensive coordinators.
“As far as developing, I think it’s been amazing,” Bagent said. “I think the coaching staff has done an amazing job of not allowing there to be any gray area on any play. Everything is black and white. If something doesn’t work, it’s because someone made a mistake. That’s easy to point out.
“In previous years there’s been kind of a gray area where we could have gone here, but we went here. Just that limbo that a lot of staffs have. That does not seem to be an issue with this staff.”
Bagent symbolizes scouting success, too. General manager Ryan Poles trusted his scouts’ grades on a relative unknown — a small-college quarterback from West Virginia whose father, Travis, is the world’s greatest left-handed professional arm wrestler.
“My journey, especially since I’ve gotten here, it’s been nothing short of amazing,” he said. “I’m extremely blessed to be in the situation I’m in. I could sit here and start bawling my eyes out. But I’m absolutely beside myself every day that I wake up that this is what I get to do. And especially with how everything has unfolded, how ready I feel right now, being gifted with this amazing staff.
“It just seems like things, oddly enough, keep working out in my favor.”
