Getty As it stands, Bears general manager Ryan Poles looks smart for not paying LB Roquan Smith top dollar.
Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith said prior to the start of the 2022 regular season that he was going to “bet on himself” this coming year when it came to earning a new contract.
Over Chicago’s first two games, that’s not going so well. While Smith has continued to be a tackling machine (he has 20 total stops so far), the fifth-year linebacker has already missed three tackles, per PFF, and he has had significant difficulty getting off blocks. The bulk of his stops have been after positive yardage had already been gained.
Roquan Smith is having a tough game out there tonight.
He hasn’t been able to shed blocks to save his life these last two weeks. Hasn’t been impressive in a crucial contract year. #Bears
Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said he thought Smith played “solid” in Chicago’s Week 2 loss to the Green Bay Packers, but several fans and analysts found the young LB’s performance “particularly uninspiring,” as Adam Jahns of The Athletic put it.
If Smith continues to play without accumulating many disruptive plays, what does that mean for his future? One top analyst has weighed in.
Bears Insider on Roquan: His Tenacity Is Absent
Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog is one of the most accurate and in-the-know people covering the team, and he had some interesting thoughts about Smith in his September 20 column.
Hughes used a comparison from Major League Baseball to articulate why he thinks the former eighth overall pick is skating on thin ice in Chicago.
“In the winter, Aaron Judge played hardball with the New York Yankees,” Hughes wrote. “He wanted a zillion dollars over a zillion years. The Yankees only wanted to give him 3/4 of a zillion over slightly less than a zillion years. Nobody budged. No deal. And now Judge is having the greatest contract year in the history of professional sports. Roquan Smith is off to the opposite campaign.”
Hughes then noted that if Smith continued on the same trajectory he’s currently on, he very likely won’t be wearing a Bears jersey next year.
“He is getting blown off the ball repeatedly, including by backs and receivers,” Hughes added. “He looks slow in coverage, normally a major strength. And the tenacity that has come to define his game is absent. Roquan is 25 years old and should be a long-term answer on this defense. But playing at this level, it’s becoming more and more likely he is elsewhere in 2023. Imagine the criticism that would befall Ryan Poles were Smith to be playing at this level after being given $100 million.”
Does Smith’s ‘Hold-In’ Have Anything to do With His Slow Start?
The two-time second-team All-Pro is playing a new position in a new defense installed by Eberflus, and it’s fair to posit that this might have something to do with his slow start thus far.
It’s also possible the 25-year-old LB missed a great deal during his “hold-in” throughout training camp, and Smith also didn’t appear in any of Chicago’s three preseason games. It’s reasonable to suggest that had he practiced with the team or played some snaps during the preseason, Smith might have a little less rust.
As it stands, his PFF grades are generally quite bad: He has a 29.3 overall grade, a 42.1 run defense grade, a respectable pass rush mark of 73.5 and a coverage grade of 29.4, the lowest on the team.
If he continues on this trajectory this season, not only will he likely be playing elsewhere in 2023, he won’t be getting paid top linebacker money when he does ink a new deal. If he can turn it around, though, it’s probable the Bears will choose to keep him around — and pay him the big bucks. It’s entirely up to him.