We somehow missed the late Thursday night story posted on the web site of the Chicago Tribune regarding the status of talks between the Bears and left tackle Chris Williams, the team’s first-round pick in the 2008 draft.

Reportedly (as of late Thursday night), the two sides were close on a deal.

Williams said during his introductory press conference that the word “holdout” isn’t in his vocabulary.  So that either means Vanderbilt’s academic reputation is highly overrated, or Williams was trying to say that he’s not going to miss any of training camp.

The potential problem with Williams’ situation is that he occupies the No. 14 slot in round one, the same spot that produced a curve-busting contract last year for Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis.  Though the Jets spent considerable time trying to apply lipstick to the pig of a package that Revis received, the fact remains that they grossly overpaid, in light of the position at which Revis was drafted.

If Williams doesn’t want to press for the same treatment, that’s his prerogative.  But the Revis contract could be something that causes the process to go more slowly than Williams or the team might have envisioned.