Caleb Williams going for gold? Bears teammate sees an ideal match

"I think we got a lot of guys on our team that probably can do it," Byard said. "I'm not sure he's going to want to do it, but I think Caleb would be an excellent flag football team quarterback.

"Especially with the broken plays and being able to scramble around, do those type of things. I think it is a blessing for sure.”

Byard explained why NFL athletes would want to seemingly downgrade themselves and compete in something like non-contact, flag football without money involved.

“I think for any athlete to be able to have the opportunity to go and get a gold medal for our country, I think that's an enormous opportunity and it's a blessing," Byard said. "Would I want to play? Probably not, if you asked me probably, five some years ago, I probably would be one of the guys in the front of the line."

Byard thought there might be a conflict with training camps but wasn't sure.

Now 31 years old, Byard would be 34 when the Games are held. He had a good reason for thinking he might have been interested in the Olympics had it happened earlier in his career, but it wasn't necessarily his age.

“I didn't have as many kids as I have, you know what I mean?" he said. "I have a lot of responsibilities during the summer. I don't know if that's something I'd be looking forward to.”

Making money makes more sense, or cents.

“For me it's like keep the main thing, the main thing," Byard said. "I'm trying to go win a championship. If I was younger and I knew I had a lot more years left to play, I maybe can sacrifice that. 

"I know I’ve played more years than I'm going to play, so everything that I'm focused on is trying to win that chip.”

Gold medals don't pay the bills or work in a college fund like NFL bucks do.