Getty Formers Bears linebacker Roquan Smith has agreed to a market-altering contract extension with the Ravens, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
Former Chicago Bears All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith is finally going to get the payday he feels he deserves from the Baltimore Ravens.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Smith and the Ravens have agreed to terms on a five-year, $100 million contract extension that includes $45 million fully guaranteed and $60 million in total guarantees. The 25-year-old Smith now becomes the first NFL off-ball linebacker to make $20 million per year on his contract.
“Per Saint Omni, the Ravens agree in principle with All-Pro LB Roquan Smith — now the highest paid at his position in NFL history with a 5-yr, $100M deal. $45M fully guaranteed & $60M in total guarantees,” Rapoport tweeted on January 10. “Huge. The 1st off-ball LB to get $20M per year. Roquan represented himself.”
Per Saint Omni, The #Ravens agree in principle with All-Pro LB Roquan Smith — now the highest paid at his position in NFL history with a 5-yr, $100M deal. $45M fully guaranteed & $60M in total guarantees. Huge. The 1st off-ball LB to get $20M per year. Roquan represented himself.
The Bears traded Smith to the Ravens for a second-round pick (currently projected to be No. 56 overall) and a fifth-rounder in the 2023 NFL draft back at the league’s trade deadline on November 1. The decision to deal away the two-time second-team All-Pro came after Smith and the Bears’ new regime — helmed by general manager Ryan Poles — clashed in the summer about the linebacker’s asking price for his next NFL contract. While Smith did return to the team after a brief holdout and played in the Bears’ first eight games, Poles ultimately decided to move him for immediate draft capital instead of letting him walk in 2023 and having to wait for a compensatory pick in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Ravens have seen their defense transform from one of the worst units in the NFL to one of the most dominant since acquiring Smith at the deadline. According to ESPN’s NFL Live, Baltimore ranked 20th in points allowed per game and 24th in yards allowed per game before Smith’s arrival and has been second-best in both categories since integrating him into their defense. Smith has 86 total tackles, seven tackles for loss, two sacks, three pass deflections and one interception in nine games as a Raven.
Bears Got Quality Play From Rookie LB Jack Sanborn
There is no denying the Bears lost one of their best defensive playmakers and biggest locker-room leaders when they dealt Smith to the Ravens, but there was at least one good thing that emerged for Chicago in the aftermath of the trade: Jack Sanborn.
Without Smith in the lineup, the undrafted rookie Sanborn was tabbed as the Bears’ new starting middle linebacker and had an emergence that turned out to be one of the biggest surprises of the season for Chicago. He tallied 49 tackles with two sacks, six pressures and 24 defensive stops (tackles that constitute a failure for the offense) in six starts before suffering a season-ending ankle injury. He also had an interception that was called back due to a questionable penalty in Week 10’s loss to the Detroit Lions.
“If you go all the way back to preseason, we saw what kind of player he was,” Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said after Sanborn’s second start on November 13. “He’s very instinctual, he makes a lot of plays on the ball, always reads his keys. He’s always on it in that way. So we’re pleased with where he’s going.”
Bears Likely to Seek Linebacker Upgrades in 2023
Putting Sanborn’s success aside for a moment, the Bears are almost certainly going to be looking for better linebackers in the 2023 offseason. Sanborn may have surpassed expectations at the MIKE, but the other veteran linebackers on their roster — Nicholas Morrow, Joe Thomas and Matt Adams — are all due to become unrestricted free agents in March and have done little to earn long-term investment from Chicago.
Even if the Bears re-sign one or a few of them to short-term contracts, it would be negligent of Poles not to look for better options in both free agency and the NFL draft with so many resources at his disposal. One high-end veteran option for them could be Tampa Bay’s Lavonte David, who has been one of the best in the business for the past several seasons and would make an excellent outside complement to Sanborn. He would cost a pretty penny, but at 32 years old, he wouldn’t be seeking nearly the same amount of money that Roquan wanted and couldn’t get from the Bears.
That said, the Bears have plenty of other needs and might instead choose to target one — or a few — rookies in their 2023 draft class. They hold the No. 1 overall pick and could have a number of trade-down options to increase their total haul of picks. If they add another pick in the first three rounds, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them take a chance on a promising new linebacker on either Day 1 or 2 of the draft.