The NFL made the Chicago Bears cancel Tuesday’s OTA practice after ruling they violated the league’s collective bargaining agreement with prohibited live contact in May practices.
Per Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (h/t Pro Football Talk’s Charean Williams), the team attributed their infraction to “a younger roster with players eager to impress.”
Third-year tight end Cole Kmet said players wanted to make a strong impression on new head coach Matt Eberflus.
“We’re going 100 percent, and you’re being asked to go 100 percent, and you want to show out for a new staff,” Kmet said. “You have young guys and guys like me that want to stick around here and be around here.”
Eberflus said neither he nor the organization were fined, and they’ve since gotten better at preparing with less contact.
“We’ve learned how to practice Bears against Bears and still practice full speed,” Eberflus said.
According to the Chicago Tribune‘s Dan Wiederer, the league involved the NFL Players Association after the Bears didn’t address their concerns. While the team can say young players were simply overzealous, it’s on the coaching staff to know and enforce the rules.
The Bears returned to practice Wednesday and will have plenty of more work to do this summer following a 6-11 season that led the organization to fire Matt Nagy.