You still have to fill the position. It's not like the Bears have an excess of NFL linebackers waiting to take his place. And Roquan has been good after a slow start.
He looks slower than in years past. I know what the stats say about tackles and stuff, but that's because he's playing weakside linebacker in a cover 2 and that scheme funnels plays toward him. It's more about the scheme than him.
Different scheme. Gap control defense. No big bodies like Eddie Goldman or Hicks to clog up blockers. Read then react.
The system was set up for him to rack up tackles before. And he did that then too.
Still spending a shit load of money for him still. He’s 25. Still plenty young and many elite years left.
No, I have a different opinion of Kyler Gordon now than I did then, for example.
You can only work with the data you have.
Easy to be inaccurate when you have zero time to throw, and have to rush everything, because your Oline is below average, and allows you to be pressured and sacked more than any other team in the NFL. I've seen him put some nasty balls in some tight windows, and his WRs just fail to make plays. You just have zero patience, and expect a player will just not be good, unless they come out and look like a HoFer from game 1. Again... the guy has basically played 7 pro games.
That doesn't explain how much Fields struggles with screens. Those are supposed to be easy completions.
Fair.
Roquan’s return won’t be high as he’s on the 5th year option so he is going to command big money. And like others have said LB today isn’t a premium position anymore. Adams and Ramsey and Fitzpatrick were dealt on their rookie deals so the acquiring team got a couple of cheaper years. Not the case with Smith. So a 2nd is probably the best they can hope for.
But you know how players today feel about the franchise tag. So you’d be talking about smith signing it on the very last day possible thus no training camp. Not exactly hitting the ground running next season.
