Roquan Smith made some waves Tuesday morning by sending out a trade request. Hours later, the other key party in this negotiation — Bears GM Ryan Poles — responded by indicating Smith is still in the team’s plans.
The rookie GM said the intention still is to sign Smith, via the Chicago Sun-Times Jason Lieser (on Twitter), though Poles said he has to “do what’s best for the team.” Smith has been extension-eligible since January 2021, but the former top-10 pick is still tied to his fifth-year option salary ($9.7MM).
“My feelings for Roquan haven’t changed at all,” Poles said, via The Athletic’s Jeff Howe (on Twitter). “I think he’s a very good football player. I love the kid. I love what he’s done on the field, which makes me really disappointed with where we’re at right now. I thought we’d be in a better situation, to be completely honest with you.
“In terms of our philosophy in the front office, I’ve always believed that we take care of our homegrown talent. We pay them and we take care of them.”
Poles is not ruling out a trade, Lieser tweets, but that is not the new Bears boss’ goal here. It would, however, be consistent with an offseason of change in Chicago. In his first months as GM, Poles has largely dismantled Chicago’s once-formidable front seven.
Khalil Mack is now a Charger, being traded for second- and sixth-round picks, and Akiem Hicks is a Buccaneer, having signed with Tampa Bay after Chicago did not make a known effort to retain him in free agency. Poles also cut longtime starters Eddie Goldman, who has since retired, and Danny Trevathan. Robert Quinn may still loom as a trade candidate, though the defensive end said recently he does not wish to be dealt for a third time.
Smith has accused the Bears of not negotiating in good faith, having reportedly received a backloaded offer that would be “bad for the LB market.” Poles offered a counter of sorts, indicating there are “record-setting pieces” within the Bears’ proposal. Shaquille Leonard‘s $19.7MM-per-year contract currently tops the off-ball linebacker market.
“With this situation, we’ve shown respect from a very early timeframe,” Poles said. “With that said, there are record-setting pieces of this contract that I knew for a fact, I thought was going to show him the respect that he deserves. Obviously, that hasn’t been the case. With that said, we can’t lose sight that this isn’t about one player. My job is to build a roster that is going to sustain success for a long period of time.”
The Bears still have Eddie Jackson around from Ryan Pace‘s batch of defensive extensions, but the rest of the group that helped Chicago rise to a top-five defense is gone. Matt Eberflus appears to have a fixer-upper on his hands, with the Bears’ offseason not making it a secret the team is rebuilding.
But the Bears have nearly $19MM in cap space and do not have many known long-term cornerstones or high-end contracts on their roster. Smith, 25, would certainly profile as a building-block player. Although the fifth-year inside linebacker has no Pro Bowls on his resume, he is a two-time second-team All-Pro. The Bears could also extract some value for the Georgia product in a trade, though that would leave the team quite thin at linebacker. A subsequent Quinn trade would require a near-full-scale rebuild along Chicago’s front seven.
Trade requests, of course, do not always precede trades. The 49ers’ Deebo Samuel saga is the latest negotiation to produce an extension following a trade request. The 49ers also had a Samuel franchise tag in their back pocket. Unless the Bears are prepared to carry a $20MM Smith cap charge on their 2023 books come March, with on- and off-ball linebackers grouped together on the tag, they do not have such a luxury. That raises the stakes for this summer’s negotiations a bit.
Give Ro the bag, Poles! The cap flexibility is there, he’s a dog and loved by the fans, he’s still ascending as a player, and this coaching staff will love him.
If this is true then stop the drama and get it done. This wishy washy approach isn’t doing anyone any good.
For real. Why are they jerking this guy around. He’s indeed a strong building block and all they’re doing is pissing him off
It’s the standard game Bears management played with Forte and Robinson. They aren’t particularly eager to reward top performers but will overspend in a heartbeat for bums like Glennon.
Don’t overpay good players. If Ro wants 17-19 mil a year it’s a no brainer but if he wants to be the highest paid LB no chance.
Apparently Poles is a big believer in competition for positions. Every position except QB that is where you have Fields, Semian and NATHAN PETERMAN. Seriously? Nathan Peterman? Or however you spell his name, I don’t really care. Yeah, That’s serious competition there. Early 2023 1st round pick please report to Halas Hall.
The curious thing to me is that only Mack fetched a return for any of those guys. I seem to remember Smith being particular about signing his contract when he was drafted. If that memory is correct, he may be similarly particular about his extension. He’s one of the few players from the prior regime to profile as a building block for the future, though, so ticking off a known tough negotiator might make things harder down the line.
I think he could fit the new defense better than most of the prior players, but it still seems odd to not get any meaningful return on any of the others. The contract dictated that for some, such as Hicks.?Given that this was to be rebuilding year anyway, it seems like it was prematurely decided that these players were all useless to the new scheme and that they’d rather get nothing for them at all.
It’s not like there are any successors currently on the roster that they’d be keeping down. Robinson will start on the edge, Gordon and Brisker will start in the secondary. There isn’t much else in the front seven to keep down by keeping Trevathan or Goldman for a year, but that’s just my opinion.
Well, Hicks was a free agent so there was no trade return for him. Honestly, neither he or Mack could stay on the field, so they may not have even contributed that much this season. Just speculation by me…
Oh yeah, I mentioned that. Some of it there wasn’t much to be done about, like Hicks. But it’s just a bit depressing, to me, that that incredibly effective Bears defense would be completely dismantled in an offseason with no return for any of them but Mack. It just worked out that way for a few. But it either odd or sobering that the Bears would lose all of that with little gained…and still paying for some of those contracts.
Smith was the last first rounder to sign during his draft year because the Bears management was giving him grief over the offset language in the contract. I’m not surprised he doesn’t trust them and he probably still harbors some resentment. How is a guy from Georgia “homegrown” talent?
Bears drafted him. He’s developed here. Homegrown.
That’s a pretty loose interpretation. I suppose if the Blackhawks drafted a player from Uzbekistan, he would be considered “homegrown” too?
Curious as to what you would consider “homegrown”?
I think most fans only consider a player “homegrown” if he has family roots or attended college within the state.
This is what happen when you hire a first year GM that really hasn’t earned the job. Way to go you were on a staff that drafted Patrick Maholmes. That means absolutely nothing. You had little to know say in the process. You were just lucky enough to be employed by the Chiefs.
This year alone the Bears have $26.5mil in dead money for Mack and Trevathan. The Bears have around $13+Mil on the active roster.
If the Bears were to sign Smith to a new contract, he would probably demand $20mil a year. That contract adjustment would put the Bears at $53mil against the cap this year at the LB position. That would be 1/4 of the $208mil salary cap going to one position that does not even handle the ball.
Maybe, just maybe first year GM Ryan Poles does know what he is doing.
In all fairness to Poles, Hicks and Mack couldn’t stay on the field and Goldman just plain quit. But on the other hand, he has to get Smith back in the fold. He has to build around something.
I completely agree with what you are saying. But to spend that much on the LB position and not invest into the QB that your organization has already invested two 1st round picks in seems futile.
Roquan Smith can finish the year with 350 tackles, 5 interceptions, 20 pass deflections, 20 sacks, and 25 QB hits…. will be worth every penny of the new contract but all for not if Nathan Peterman is your banged up starting QB week 6.
Omg Nate Peterman. I’m pretty sure you could grab a random drunk fan from the crowd and have no worse results than what he can do