Butkus, Singletary, Urlacher. Three Hall of Famers that were linebackers for the Chicago Bears. These 3 guys were a part of a cornerstone position in all of sports. It’s like Dallas Cowboys quarterback, shortstop for the New York Yankees, or guard for the Los Angeles Lakers.
With training camp underway in Chicago, the Bears will be without Roquan Smith, who is holding out for a new contract. He is now requesting a trade saying, “The new front office regime doesn’t value me here.”
The former first round pick and two-time 2nd team all-pro is deserving of a new contract. He is the anchor for the Bears defense that has a lot of holes to fill with a lot of new faces. Also, he is a tackling machine. Smith is one of the players in the NFL that gets overlooked by other players at his position. In his career he has played over 60 games, has over 340 tackles, and 14 sacks.
The Bears need Roquan Smith, more than he needs the Bears. Teams would kill to have a linebacker like Roquan Smith on their team.
With Matt Eberflus at the helm, he knows he needs Smith to be the leader on defense. Eberflus knows the defense would be lost without him. Is he better than Darius Leonard or Fred Warner? Of course not, but he is only 25 years old and has the potential to be an all-time great, not only in Chicago Bear history, but in NFL history.
New GM Ryan Poles does intend to keep Roquan. The pressure is on now to figure this situation out. They need to get this done, not just because I just bought a jersey of his, but because the Bears franchise needs him, Justin Fields needs him, and Bears nation needs him.