The new rule will penalise players who lower their helmets before a hit. The league can fine and even suspend players depending on the severity of the offence.
Roquan Smith and the Bears have yet to agree financial protections in the proposed contract should the linebacker be suspended if such a hit occurred.
“For both sides, it’s more of a language deal, a language-type deal,” said Bears coach Matt Nagy.
“Again, for me, as a first-year head coach going through this, my thing is just collaborating with [general manager] Ryan Pace and what they have going on with the agent and making sure that we understand, together, I need to as a head coach just continue to keep plugging away with what we have and who we have.
“We’ll eventually get that thing figured out. The biggest thing for our organisation and for our players is for me to be focused on who’s here right now, and that’s what I’m doing.”
If a player is suspended it allows a team to void guaranteed money in contracts.
Being a linebacker, Smith is expected to make many more tackles and as a result be more susceptible to violating the new rule than some other positions.