Bears GM Ryan Poles Intends to Keep Roquan Smith After Trade Request

Bears general manager Ryan Poles said that team has no intention to trade All-Pro Roquan Smith, despite the star linebacker’s Tuesday morning trade request. 

Speaking to reporters in the afternoon, the first-year general manager said he was “disappointed’ with how the situation had developed over the course of contract extension negotiations, which resulted in Smith publicly announcing his request out of Chicago through a statement via Ian Rapoport on Tuesday. 

Still, Poles maintained that he still intends to work something out with the 25-year-old linebacker, while also keeping the franchise’s long-term future in mind.

“Right now, my intention is to sign Roquan to this team,” Poles said. “We’re gonna take it day by day and at the end of the day we got to do what’s best for the organization. But my intention are to make sure Roquan Smith is on this team.”

Smith, who does not have an agent, said in his earlier statement that the leadership group in Chicago “doesn’t value” him appropriately and had “refused to negotiate in good faith” throughout talks this offseason.

“The new front office regime doesn’t value me here,” Smith wrote in the statement, per Rapoport. “They’ve refused to negotiate in good faith, every step of this journey has been ‘take it or leave it’. The deal sent to me is one that would be bad for myself, and for the entire LB market if I signed it. I’ve been trying to get something done that’s fair since April, but their focus has been on trying to take advantage of me.”

However, Poles disputed that notion, saying that he has the utmost respect for Smith as a player and that the Bears’ latest offer reflects that.

“With this situation, we showed respect from a very early timeframe and with that said, there’s record-setting pieces of this contract that I thought was going to show [Roquan] the respect that he deserves. Obviously, that hasn’t been the case,” Poles said. “With that said, we can’t lose sight that this isn’t about one player. My job is to build a roster that’s gonna sustain success for a long period of time… and at the end of the day we have to do what’s best for the Chicago Bears.”

Smith has been among the best Bears defenders in recent years, as evidenced by his appearance on two straight second-team All-Pro selections in his last two seasons. In 2021, he racked up a career-high 163 combined tackles, which ranked him fifth in the league among all players.

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