Should the Steelers consider linebacker Roquan Smith, after the Chicago Bear requested a trade.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tells The Fan Morning Show they should at least look into it, especially since “the Devin Bush experiment has been questionable.”
The issue is it would cost…a lot.
Fowler says it would take a contact worth at least $18 million to lure him.
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The two-time, second team All Pro player had a total of 163 tackles last year.
One of the problems with Smith though is that he doesn’t have an agent.
As Doug Whaley tells the Fan Morning Show, if the Bears don’t want to trade him, “you can’t find out what his asking price is,” because it could be considered tampering.
Whaley says the Steelers can call the Bears but they won’t know how much he wants and if they talk to him directly it would be tampering, something that wouldn’t be the case if he had an agent.
With the Miami Dolphins being punished for tampering right now, several teams may be gun shy on trying to get Smith.
As Whaley points out, if the Steelers do make a trade for say wide receiver Chase Claypool and a first or second round pick, they won’t know how much he will sign for until he joins the team.
At that point Smith may demand more than a player like Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Smith would surely make any defense better, but it could come at a heavy price.
Another possibility is that Smith is trying to get a better deal with the Bears.
“The Bears are going to try to re-sign him it’s just the negotiations haven’t gone well and they kinda tried to low ball him and he got insulted and here we are,” said Fowler.