On Wednesday, the Bears had their first training camp practice of the 2022 season. While they have their fair share of potential issues with orange helmets and protecting Justin Fields, it seems to be a mostly optimistic time in Bear-dom. Hey, that’s the way camps are!
Of course, it’s all orange and navy blue roses save for the absence of arguably their best player, Roquan Smith. You see, Smith reported to camp just like the other Bears. However, because the two-time Second-Team All-Pro (2020-2021) is seeking a contract extension that would likely make him the NFL’s highest-paid linebacker — he had no intention of actually practicing in the rare “hold-in.”
Knowing that Smith is an integral part of new head coach Matt Eberflus’s defense and a leader all around, the Bears did him a solid.
According to the Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs, they put Smith on the Physically Unable To Perform List:
#Bears placed LB Roquan Smith on the physically unable to perform list.
— Brad Biggs (@BradBiggs) July 27, 2022
Now, you might wonder: How is placing any player on the PUP list good for them?
Well, unless there’s some underlying report of an injury, Smith is 100 percent healthy. Because Smith is a hold-in — meaning, in attendance at camp but not practicing — the Bears helped the star linebacker avoid considerable fines for missing team training sessions. Given that NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said that Chicago hadn’t given Smith an offer he would “remotely consider,” — it seems the Halas Hall brain trust is trying to appease their franchise player.
Good luck?
#Bears All-Pro LB Roquan Smith will not be participating in training camp when veteran report tomorrow, sources say, because of his contract situation. Smith has not yet received an offer he would remotely consider, thus he’ll wait.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 25, 2022
A word of advice to the Bears: Do you want to know the best way to make a good, reliable, disciplined playmaker happy? Pay him what he’s worth!
According to Over the Cap, the NFL’s highest-paid linebacker is the Colts’ Shaquille Leonard ($19.7 million a year, $52.5 million guaranteed). The 49ers’ Fred Warner follows Leonard in second ($19 million annually, $40.5 million guaranteed). Note: Both deals were signed last summer.
Now, Leonard and Warner are elite linebackers who have certainly earned their lucrative extensions. But they are not definitively better than the incredibly productive Smith (if at all). He has also earned the right to the security of an extension as he enters his fifth-year option season of a rookie contract.
Neither Leonard nor Warner can say they matched a First-Ballot Hall of Famer on the stat sheet:
Last two players with 300+ tackles and 30+ tackles for loss in a 2-year span in NFL history:
Roquan Smith (2020-2021)
Ray Lewis (1999-2000)That's called dominance 😤 pic.twitter.com/ZluavM3M7J
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) July 19, 2022
In other words, Smith wants a contract that reflects his status as one of pro football’s truly elite linebackers.
Whether the Bears actually want to pay Smith that much is completely irrelevant. If they want to keep him long-term, the market dictates they put him alongside his exceptional peers earnings-wise. A kind PUP list placement is just sanding over the larger issue at hand — they have to pay that man his money.
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