The Chicago Bears are less than a month away from training camp starting for the upcoming season. Bears rookies report to Halas Hall on July 19.
The Bears drafted eight players in April. Three have yet to sign their rookie deals with the team. Second-round picks Luther Burden III, Shemar Turner, and Ozzy Trapilo are three of 30 second-round rookies from the 2025 class who have not signed rookie deals.
For the first time in league history, the Houston Texans signed a second-round pick, Jayden Higgins, to a fully guaranteed contract. The Cleveland Browns followed suit, giving a fully guaranteed contract to No. 33 pick, Carson Schwesinger.
Amid a report that came out this week from Pablo Torre about a decision on league-wide collusion over fully guaranteed veteran contracts, second-round picks are in a fight with front offices about fully guaranteed pay.
A battleground in the NFL this summer
Per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the issue is a “battleground” for teams this summer.
“None of the players will take something less than a fully-guaranteed deal below Emmanwori, because they don’t want to be responsible for ending the run of fully-guaranteed deals,” Florio wrote. “And every team will want to be the one that successfully held the rope and won the full-guarantee tug-o-war.
“Eventually, someone will have to blink. It’ll probably start later in the round, with players who wouldn’t expect to get a full guarantee anyway. And then it could work its way up the ladder. At some point, a player is going to insist on a fully-guaranteed deal and the team is going to insist on not fully guaranteeing the deal and there will be no middle ground.”
The Chicago Bears have much to lose in the battle
No team has more to lose this summer than the Bears and their rookies, as Chicago selected three players in the second round.
The “battleground” issue is something to keep in mind in regards to Burden, who missed veteran OTAs this spring due to a “soft tissue injury.” Head coach Ben Johnson didn’t like that Burden was inside with the training staff instead of outside at practice.
Maybe Burden didn’t like being asked to practice in the rookie minicamp without a fully guaranteed deal.
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