Bears linebacker Roquan Smith is one of the seven unsigned top-10 draft picks. With his team among the first to report for training camp, Smith becomes the first 2018 rookie to not show up.
So what’s the issue? The renewed wrestling match over offset language, as one league source explained it to PFT, is more of a problem at the very top of round one. At the bottom of the top 10 (Smith was No. 8), the impasse comes more from issues like the language that voids future guaranteed money and the structure of roster bonuses paid in future years.
Regardless, the Bears officially head to training camp on Thursday, and Smith won’t be there -- unless he blinks, the team blinks, or the two sides fashion a compromise on whatever the issues are that are keeping a deal from getting done.