The Chicago Bears signaled their intent to rebuild from the moment Ryan Poles took over as GM. It became clearer after Robert Quinn got traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. Now if people didn’t believe it before, there is no longer any doubts. After failing to reach an extension agreement with linebacker Roquan Smith, the organization decided to cut their losses. According to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, they’ve sent him to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for draft compensation.
Chicago will get back 2nd and 5th round picks in the deal. That brings their total up to nine for the 2023 draft. Poles will have tons of ammunition to remake the roster as he sees fit. This isn’t the outcome the young GM wanted. He stated clearly he’d prefer to keep Smith. However, it was becoming obvious the linebacker wanted a market-setting contract at or above $20 million per year. That was a price the Bears weren’t willing to pay. Smith’s unwillingness to hire an agent probably made matters worse.
Full compensation update: As part of the trade to deal LB Roquan Smith to Baltimore, the #Bears are acquiring LB A.J. Klein from the #Ravens as well, in addition to their 2nd and 5th round pick.
That was never in question. He’s on course to have maybe the best season of his career. The problem is that isn’t doing the team much good. Chicago is 3-5 and coming off their worst defensive performance since 2014. It was a glaring reminder that off-the-ball linebackers don’t impact the game as much as defensive linemen or cornerbacks can. It shouldn’t be a huge surprise Poles went in this direction. He likely wasn’t keen on giving a player at a less premium position that much money.
It will be rough for the Bears defense for the rest of this year. Losing their two best players in the span of a week is tough to swallow. They don’t have much star power outside of Jaylon Johnson, Eddie Jackson, and an emerging Jaquan Brisker. It’s a safe assumption they will load up on the front seven when the off-season begins next spring. They have plenty of ammunition to do so. Four picks in the first three rounds and over $120 million in salary cap space. The rebuild is indeed on.
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