(670 The Score) Bears star linebacker Roquan Smith on Tuesday ratcheted up the pressure on rookie general manager Ryan Poles.
Smith requested a trade out of Chicago and expressed his continued displeasure with how long-term contract extension talks with the front office have failed to progress. As Smith explained, every offer the Bears have made has been of the “take it or leave it” variety and the organization’s focus has been “to take advantage of me” in negotiations. Smith is representing himself in contract discussions.
But within Smith’s statement that he released to NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport was another key theme worth noting – he didn’t criticize ownership.
“I haven’t had the chance to talk to the McCaskey family, and maybe they can salvage this,” Smith wrote.
In the eyes of Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes, that was a crucial line. Smith has pitted ownership against management in his quest to receive a contract offer of his liking.
“’The new regime, these people, they don’t value me at all,’” Holmes said on the midday show Tuesday in sharing Smith's mindset. “’Two, they’ve offered me a take-it-or-leave-it deal. Three, I’m not doing that deal because it would mess up things for me and the rest of the linebackers that are out there looking for money.’”
“And he’s pitted the front office against ownership,” Bernstein said. “He has drawn those battle lines, whether or not that exists or not. We don’t know if George McCaskey has gone down to Poles’ office and said, ‘You run this team, I got your back, I’m not involved at all.’ He may have already said that. But the attempt by Roquan Smith is to pit the ownership level against the top managerial level of the Chicago Bears franchise. That’s no small thing.”
“To do that publicly, it’s a really fun gambit,” Holmes said.
“Because a guy that runs in and has all the football power has now had his power, in a small way, usurped by one of the best players. ‘You know what? I’m going above your head. I’m going to go above your head publicly too.’ And, he inoculates ownership – ‘I haven’t talked to the McCaskeys.’”
“But they could maybe swoop in and save the day,” Bernstein said.
Holmes believes Smith’s approach is smart.
“I love the gambit that Roquan has played here,” Holmes said. “And now we’ll see how the Bears react to it. I also love that they now have to answer questions about this today.
“What Roquan has succeeded in doing is making Ryan Poles look weak.”
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