The Chicago Bears weren’t able to reach an agreement with Roquan Smith on a new contract extension. It is difficult to discern who was more at fault. Some blame Smith for raising his price tag too high; a decision made worse by not having an agent to help mediate the situation. Others blame the Bears for not coming in with a strong initial offer. This led Smith to feel disrespected. Whatever the case, the linebacker chose to play the 2022 season on the final year of his rookie contract. There was another theory. Perhaps head coach Matt Eberflus and GM Ryan Poles wanted to wait.
The reason why was simple. Smith was transitioning defenses. He’d spent his entire career playing in variations of the 3-4 scheme as an inside linebacker. Now he would move outside in Eberflus’ 4-3. It’s a different position with different responsibilities. The Bears couldn’t be sure how he would handle the transition. Maybe they wanted to see how he functioned in it before pulling the trigger on offering more money. They got their first significant answer on Sunday when he lit up the Houston Texans for 16 tackles, two tackles for a loss, and a game-sealing interception.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune spoke to people around the league. They revealed an interesting nugget about Smith and his new head coach.
One that bodes well for future contract discussions.
In a chat with an NFC personnel man last week about an unrelated subject, the source said he was rather surprised the Bears didn’t pay Smith $20 million or so per season. His thinking was Smith is a perfect fit in Matt Eberflus’ defense.
Another source said Eberflus was very high on Smith in the 2018 draft, when the Indianapolis Colts held the sixth pick. Of course, coordinators don’t have a lot of sway in the draft room, and the Colts did just fine by selecting All-Pro guard Quenton Nelson two picks before the Bears chose Smith.
The point is, this could wind up being a long-term partnership with Smith in the middle of Eberflus’ defense. We just have to see what plays out over the entire season.
Matt Eberflus will likely push to keep Smith.
There is a reason he’s been complimentary of the linebacker since the moment he took over as head coach. It wasn’t political. Eberflus genuinely believes in the player. He’s confident Smith can be something special in this defense. Sunday against the Texans was a taste of those possibilities. Remember, the linebacker is still only 25 years old. He has plenty of good seasons ahead. The Bears can absolutely build their new defense around him.
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This scheme is designed to feature the weakside linebacker. Teams that have a good one tend to do well. Derrick Brooks in Tampa Bay under Tony Dungy. Lance Briggs in Chicago under Lovie Smith and Shaquille Leonard under Matt Eberflus in Indianapolis. Letting Smith go never made sense from the Bears’ perspective. All he had to do was show he could handle the transition. Now that he has done that, the money will come soon enough.
I like Roquan, and he’s a very good player. Is he a $20 Mill a year player… I don’t know man.. Thats a lot of money for a LB. But if he continues to make game changing plays like he did this week, then he will be worth it. If he just racks up a ton of tackles.. almost any decent LB can do that. Need to see more game changing plays from him moving forward. If he keeps it up, pay the man.
Roq needs to stack some performances like that together. He could be really good in this role.
Glad to see Roquan is finding his way in the new role. 👍