Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith has the unfortunate title of being the last player in his draft class to sign his rookie deal. The ongoing holdout has seen the No. 8 overall pick miss valuable practice time in training camp. And it doesn’t sound as if the Bears are any closer to finally signing him.
While Bears head coach Matt Nagy didn’t go into too much detail about the first-round pick’s situation, he did say that talks between the team and Smith are not progressing.
“It is at a stalemate, but at the same time I’m not going to get into any more of where it’s at publicly. I don’t think it’s fair to him, I don’t think it’s fair to his agent, I don’t think it’s fair to our organization. We’re going to keep it between us and I think that’s the best thing to do right now,” Nagy said per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.
The big sticking point between Smith and the Bears stems from the fact that the team wants language in his contract that would void his guaranteed money if he gets suspended. But Smith’s camp has pushed back on that provision, especially with the league’s new helmet rules possibly increasing the chances of defensive players getting suspended.
Smith is already set to miss the Bears’ preseason opener in the Hall of Fame game against the Ravens on Thursday. But if the two sides don’t break their stalemate soon, the rookie could miss a lot more of the preseason.
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