Former Chicago Bears defensive star Roquan Smith alleges that the team’s general manager, Ryan Poles, made some major promises to him that he reneged on when he traded him to the Baltimore Ravens at the 2022 NFL trade deadline.
Roquan Smith was one of the most notable talents moved at this year’s trade deadline. While the 25-year-old hasn’t earned Pro Bowl honors yet during his five seasons in the NFL, there is no doubt he is one of the best young inside linebackers in the league.
Since being selected with the 8th pick overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, Smith has wracked 100 more tackles every season and peaked with an outstanding 163 tackles (95 solo) in 2021. Which broke the organization’s single-season record.
The Georgia standout seemed like a player the team could build around as an anchor of their defense for the next decade. Smith claims the Bears’ new GM Ryan Poles told him as much in the offseason and made some major long-term promises to him. And then reneged on it all when he shipped him off to the Ravens in November.
Roquan Smith says Chicago Bears Ryan Poles broke a couple of major promises
During a Wednesday conversation with Dan Pompei of The Athletic, Roquan Smith revealed that he thought there was a good chance he could get traded in 2022, since it was the final year of his rookie contract with the team, and they had not yet extended his deal. However, the lineback claims that Poles met with him soon after his hiring in January, and claimed they team would build the defense around him, just like they planned to do with Justin Field and the offense.
Smith says, Poles promised that a “top of the market” offer would be coming his way eventually. However, negotiations never went the way Smith expected and he eventually held off for a month in training camp and eventually asked for a trade. Yet, Poles’ stance remained the same despite stalled negotiations and a losing season in Chicago, the linebacker alleges.
“I thought Poles would ship me out, but he told me numerous times, ‘I don’t plan to trade you at all. So I was like, ‘I guess I won’t be going anywhere.’ He said we’d talk at the end of the season.”
– Roquan Smith
Obviously, those talks never happened and Smith was moved to Baltimore four days before the NFL trade deadline. It is unclear what changed for the Bears and Poles during the season, but Smith has benefitted by building his value on a first-place and playoff bound team heading into NFL free agency in 2023.
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