OWINGS MILLIONS, Md. – Baltimore Raven fill the biggest gap in the middle of their defence with the NFL’s top saver.
The Raven acquired Chicago Bears pavers Roquan Smith on Monday, a source on the team confirmed, completing the deal a day before the NFL trade deadline. A source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Raven will send the Bears a second and fifth pick in 2023 for Smith, who tops the NFL with 83 tackles this season.
As part of the transaction, Raven also sent a sponsor AJ Klein to Chicago, a source told Schefter.
Smith owed $5.408 million for the remainder of the season. As part of the trade deal, the Bears are paying Smith $4.833 million while Raven is paying him a minimum of $575,000 for the remainder of the season, sources told Schefter.
Baltimore has long sought to upgrade the inside of the linebacker, like Josh Bynes fought and Patrick Queen did not meet the first expectation. At the end of March, Raven was close to landing a freelance worker Bobby Wagnerwho decided to sign with Los Angeles Rams. Smith, 25, has the second most tackles (606) in the NFL since 2018, behind only Wagner (656).
As a second-team All-Pro, Smith provides leadership and play to a Ravens defense that is allowing 22.9 points per game, ranking 20th in the NFL. That’s the pace for Baltimore’s worst defensive score rating since 2015. It’s another positive move from Eric DeCosta, who struck his third deal in his fourth year with the deal. as Ravens general manager. Baltimore gets a full-back Marcus Peters in 2019 and pass Yannick Ngakoue in 2020. Fox Sports first reported the trade.
Smith is playing through the final year of his rookie contract – a $9.7 million fifth-year option – after the pawnbroker and the Bears failed to reach an agreement on an in-season extension.
He reported to training camp on time in July and was placed on the unplayable list with an undisclosed injury. On August 9, Smith publicly requested the transaction after he described the contract negotiations between himself and the organization as “nasty”. Smith ended his retention after nearly a month and returned to practice on August 20.
Pressure is mounting on Raven to sign a contract extension with Smith before the free company kicks in in six months. Baltimore likely won’t use the franchise tag on Smith as the team is expected to do so with the quarterback Lamar Jackson if the parties cannot reach a new agreement.
Across eight games, Smith finished third in the league for solo tackles with 52 tackles for the highest total of 83 tackles in that league. His solo tackles alone would place him second in Raven’s total tackles list, one behind Queen’s 53.
Smith also has 2.5 sacks and two interceptors. He is the second member of the Chicago defense to be traded ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. Defense is over Robert Quinn was sent to Philadelphia to pick the fourth round last Wednesday. Including the second and fifth round picks Chicago received for Smith, the Bears have nine draft picks in 2023.
