Roquan Smith had better be worth what the Baltimore Ravens gave to the Chicago Bears in trade. Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta parted with two 2023 draft picks and a veteran player to get the all-action linebacker.
That’s a tidy bounty, particularly since one of those picks was a second-round choice, invaluable currency for a franchise that values draft capital as highly as the Ravens. Implicit or not, DeCosta and the Ravens sent a clear message they don’t expect to find a linebacker as talented as Smith among next year’s draft class.
The Ravens have a reputation to protect as shrewd buyers and savvy sellers. It won’t look good if they’ve been fleeced by the Bears, but one NFC personnel executive doesn’t think it will happen.
Ravens Get Highest Possible Praise for ‘Difference-Maker’ Trade
Heavy’s Senior NFL Reporter Matt Lombardo spoke to a personnel exec. from the NFC South, who dubbed the Smith deal a “GREAT trade for the Ravens. He can play. It was time for a change of scenery for him and the Bears, I think Baltimore got a lot better off of this trade.”
That’s high praise, but it concerns what the Ravens are getting on the field, not the situation they’ve inherited off it. Notably, Smith’s status as a pending free agent for 2023.
It’s something he shares with Baltimore’s franchise quarterback Lamar Jackson, setting up a dilemma for DeCosta when it comes time to negotiate, according to PFF’s Ari Meirov:
New #Ravens LB Roquan Smith is in the final year of his deal.
Unless Baltimore does a new deal, he’ll be a free agent in March.
How about the franchise tag? Lamar Jackson is also in the final year of his contract. They need it for him right now.
Very interesting situation.
For the next nine games at least, the Ravens have acquired a game-changing talent on defense. NFL.com columnist Jeffri Chadiha dubbed Smith “exactly the kind of linebacker who can be a difference-maker on a unit that needs more of them.”
Parting with a second-rounder, a fifth-round pick and A.J. Klein to get “one of the league’s best off-ball linebackers” earned the Ravens an A grade from Bleacher Report’s Maurice Moton.
There’s a common theme, notably that the Ravens added a stud to a defense lacking in elite talent along the front seven.
Smith the Bluechip Front-7 Talent Ravens Need
It’s unusual for the Ravens to be without a marquee presence along the front seven, but it’s been a while since the days of Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata. Perhaps only Calais Campbell and Justin Houston qualify as true game-wreckers on this season’s unit, but both are the wrong side of 30 and closer to the end of their respective careers than the middle.
Smith is different because the 25-year-old is just entering his prime. The NFL’s leading tackler already has his fans on the Ravens’ defense, including fellow inside linebacker Patrick Queen:
Foreshadowing 👀…
Smith and Queen can form a dynamic pairing capable of staying on the field for all three downs and transforming a struggling defense. The Ravens are 20th in points allowed and 24th in yards.
Smith is quick and decisive on the blitz, while also being highly adept in coverage. His range of skills will help coordinator Mike Macdonald create more sophisticated ways to generate pressure.
Different players rushing and unexpected ones dropping was common when Macdonald’s predecessor Don ‘Wink’ Martindale was calling plays. The Ravens haven’t been as effectively unpredictable since Martindale left for the New York Giants, but there have been signs recently Macdonald is getting more daring and imaginative.
Those things showed up when Houston recorded a landmark sack against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 8:
Tom Brady officially becomes the most sacked QB in the history of the NFL, with sack number 555.
The play came about when safeties Geno Stone and Kyle Hamilton rushed the middle, while Queen and edge-rusher Odafe Oweh (99) bailed underneath.
Adding Smith, who already has 2.5 sacks on the season to pressure schemes like this will elevate Macdonald’s defense to the levels the Ravens are used to on that side of the ball. As Chadiha put it, “Baltimore is now poised to make a run at the division crown with an improved defense.”
Entering the playoffs as AFC North champs would endorse the views of all those who think the Ravens knocked it out of the park by trading for Smith.
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NFC Personnel Exec Gives Emphatic Verdict on Ravens, Roquan Smith Trade