Roquan Smith seeks October revenge against Bears for some reason

The two had an extended contract battle and then Poles dealt him to the Baltimore Ravens. In actuality, Smith should be thanking Poles because he's been in the playoffs three straight seasons after being traded.

After the trade Smith spent the past 2 1/2 seasons talking about how it felt great to be with winners and out of Chicago.

We're still waiting for that Roquan Smith Super Bowl ring, though. Did they get that yet?

They haven't made it and didn't last year because of the first team on Smith's revenge list, and that's Buffalo. The Ravens open the season in Buffalo.

"That's the first game, for sure," Smith said. "That's how I like it. Exactly. Revenge is best served as a cold dish, you know? That will be nice to go up there in Buffalo and get a little payback for those guys from the end of the year."

That was Buffalo. Smith's revenge tour seemed to fade away there and Eisen had to egg him on to talk about the Bears.

"I'm definitely excited for the Chicago game," Smith said. "I'm very excited for that one. I have a couple of guys over there. I still keep up with and a lot of my friends that are still in Chicago so I know a lot of them are gonna be here at the game. And it's going to be one that I've been looking forward to for a little while now.

"And I'm very excited about it. So wherever and whenever we play them I'm very excited about that one."

Eisen wanted specifics, namely players he's going to be glad to see.

"I think each and every guy, whoever's out there lined up across from me, whoever that's running back.

(D'Andre) Swift, my guy from college, if that's a receiver coming across the middle, tight end, whoever. So whoever, at the end of the day every single person has to get dealt with and each and every game, you know, that one is circled, obviously playing there."

No mention of Poles, who traded him. Smith should simply be satisfied with being in Baltimore and playing in more meaningful games. He is the highest paid linebacker in the league with a deal averaging $20 million a year.

The Bears didn't want to pay him, yet they signed Tremaine Edmunds in free agency the next season and paid him just $2 million a year less.

In actuality, they did not pay Edmunds to replace Smith. They paid T.J. Edwards to replace Smith.

The Bears had Smith playing weakside linebacker and Edwards is their weakside linebacker now. He makes $10 million a year on his second contract. He made $6.5 million a year on his first contract.

Smith averaged 8.8 tackles, had 47 for loss, made seven interceptions, two forced fumbles, five sacks and one fumble recovery in his 4 1/2 seasons in Chicago.

Edwards has 8.3 tackles per game, 20 for loss, four interceptions, two forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries in two seasons.

Edmunds is playing middle linebacker, which was not where Smith was playing in the Bears defense, but he has averaged seven tackles a game, eight for loss, has made five interceptions, forced two fumbles and recovered one.

It's difficult to say what Smith's numbers might look like had they paid him the $2 million more and kept him in Chicago but in Baltimore's stout defense he has played a 3-4 like he's more familiar with and has been All-Pro the last two years and also was in 2022 when he played almost half his games in Chicago.

Either way, Smith isn't going to line up against the person he really has a grudge against. The head coach he had is gone, as well as the defensive coordinator.

He'll be going against a Bears offense that has two players starting who were in Chicago when he was here, tackle Braxton Jones and tight end Cole Kmet. There are three defensive starters who were in Chicago when Smith was here -- Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker.