Roquan Smith Gets Brutally Honest While Reflecting on Bears-Ravens Trade

The hits against the Chicago Bears keep on coming this season, and the latest one is courtesy of one of the franchise's standout former players.

Roquan Smith, whom the Bears drafted No. 8 overall in 2018, was traded to the Baltimore Ravens ahead of last season's NFL trade deadline. The linebacker reflected on the trade after a 37-3 Ravens win over the Seattle Seahawks last weekend. And Smith didn't hold back.

"Man, it's pretty crazy thinking back to when I was initially traded," Smith told Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer. "It was bittersweet for me, just knowing Chicago and rightfully so.

"But if I would've stayed there, honestly, [I] wouldn't have been able to compete for a title anytime soon.... And when I just think about it from the perspective of having the opportunity to compete for one year in and year out with the talent we have. Man, it makes me so happy, just knowing my career is not going down the drain, in the sense of playing somewhere where I'm not truly competing for a title," he said.

Ouch. But Smith's answer isn't so much a slight against his former team—though it might partially be that—as it is a brutally honest assessment of Chicago's current state.

The Bears dropped to 2-7 on the season last weekend. The team's overall record since trading Smith is 2-16—the worst in the NFL over that time. And between sudden coaching changes, drama surrounding Chase Claypool and an injury to Justin Fields, this season has quickly turned into one that should have Bears fans waiting for the NFL draft to arrive.

Meanwhile, their former linebacker, and his new team, is thriving.

The Ravens (7-2) are among oddsmakers' favorites to win the Super Bowl this season. Smith is fresh off of first-team All-Pro honors and is now perhaps the best player on the NFL's No. 1 scoring defense.

"That's something I really pride myself on and just coming here," Smith told Breer. "We live it every single day. And it's from top to bottom. And I just couldn't be more excited just to be a part of a great organization that I am."

Earlier this season, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said: "He's been a great fit. It's one of the all-time great trades that we've made.

"Nothing against the Bears. They got a good pick out of it, and they made—salary cap and all the things they got out of it—it's probably going to be undersold a little bit. But in the end, you'll see how it pays off for them. Maybe it was a win-win [situation], but it was definitely a win for us," he said.

The 26-year-old finished his Bears career with 524 tackles, 47 tackles for loss, 16.5 sacks, seven interceptions and plenty of other accomplishments to stuff the stat sheet with. Smith was named second-team All-Pro twice in Chicago. But heading into that fifth and, inevitably, final season in the Wind City, Smith's relationship with the franchise started to fall apart.

Amid contract negotiation difficulties with Chicago's new regime—headlined by General Manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus—Smith requested a trade ahead of the 2022 season. Smith eventually returned to the field for Chicago. But he got his new contract elsewhere. The Bears traded Smith to the Ravens in exchange for 2023 second- and fifth-round picks, as well as linebacker A.J. Klein.

Shortly after the trade, the Ravens made Smith, who was set to be a free agent, the NFL's highest-paid inside linebacker with a five-year, $100 million extension.

"There's a part of me that's bummed because this was a guy that I thought was going to be here for a long time," Poles said after the trade. "I felt like we put a lot of effort forward to get that done and we came up short. We couldn't find common ground. And that's just part of the business, which I think we all understand."

After Smith's departure, the Bears remodeled their linebacking corps in free agency. Chicago signed Tremaine Edmunds to a four-year deal worth $72 million and inked T.J. Edwards to a three-year, $19.5 million contract. The Bears rank 28th in the league in scoring defense and have allowed the most passing touchdowns in the league, though the team does rank fourth in rushing yards allowed and first in yards per attempt.

Baltimore heads into Week 10 with the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoff picture. Chicago's two wins are tied for the second fewest in the NFL.

And Smith has clearly noticed.