Linebacker Roquan Smith and the Chicago Bears have tabled their contract extension talks for the foreseeable future, but new details have emerged as to what prevented the two sides from agreeing on an extension.
When meeting with the media on August 31, Smith was asked whether he and general manager Ryan Poles might reconvene again at any point again during the regular season to resume extension talks. His answer was blunt.
“I’m not focused on that if I’m being completely honest,” Smith said. “My focus is on making this year the best year I can and then go from there. I don’t want to look forward too much to the future or anything like that. I’m just focused on having the best year I can with my teammates and playing the game I love. That’s what means the most to me.”
Smith didn’t play at all during the preseason, but chose to end his “hold-in” and has resumed practicing with the team. A report courtesy of 670 The Score’s Chris Emma may have shed some light on why Poles and the Bears never managed to get a deal done.
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Smith Has Been Hurt By Negotiating Sans Agent
According to Emma, multiple agents respected in league circles approached the 25-year-old linebacker about representing him, even offering to lower their fees, but Smith declined every offer.
“Powerful agents established contact with Smith and sought to represent him in the ensuing years, even offering to collect just a 1% fee – less than the 3% standard – for the chance to work with him,” Emma wrote on August 23. “Multiple sources around the NFL believed Smith would choose to join super-agent Drew Rosenhaus’ group, Rosenhaus Sports Representation, or … Athletes First. But each time a suitor emerged, Smith declined and reaffirmed his intention to move forward without an agent.”
While some players have and continue to negotiate without agents, including Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, having another person there as a buffer can be advantageous.
“By working without a certified representative, players are exposed to the brutal honesty that takes place in negotiations, and they often come to realize the ugly business side of the NFL,” Emma noted, adding: “Multiple sources believe Smith lost out on a lucrative new deal by working without an agent.”
We’ll never know if that’s true or not, but Emma also thinks the people Smith was seeking advice from didn’t help, either.
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The Saint Omni Factor
Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk was first to report that an individual was calling NFL teams in an attempt to gauge trade interest for Smith. That person was revealed to be Saint Omni, who is not an agent certified by the NFL Players Association.
“Omni is the director of football at LifeLine Financial Group, which states on its LinkedIn page that it was founded to ‘provide financial wellness for our clients by delivering exceptional financial services that include daily bookkeeping, cash flow management, estate planning, risk management and tax planning,'” Emma reported.
“But the company’s official website includes one dead-end page without further links or information. There’s little trace of Omni’s work, though his presence around high-profile clients has been noted for the last three years by those within the NFL. ‘Shady as Hell,’ one league source said of Omni’s practices.”
When asked directly about Omni, Smith admitted he was an associate.
“I have a team of advisers and Saint is someone I know, I trust and has my best interest at heart,” Smith said on August 20.
As it turns out, that association doesn’t appear to have helped Smith in the long run, as the NFL sent a memo to all 32 teams warning them that negotiating with Omni would lead to tampering charges.
We’ll see if Smith, who says he doesn’t regret not having an agent, continues to associate with Omni moving forward.
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New Details Emerge on Bears’ Dealings With Roquan Smith: ‘Shady as Hell’