A year ago last week, Bears general manager Ryan Poles traded linebacker Roquan Smith to the Ravens. Smith sounded grateful that he did in an interview with Sports Illustrated published this week.
“It was bittersweet for me, just knowing Chicago — and rightfully so,” he told Sports Illustrated from the Ravens’ locker room after beating the Seahawks by 34. “But if I would’ve stayed there, honestly, [I] wouldn’t have been able to compete for a title anytime soon. And then when I came over here, it took me a while, like a couple of weeks, to really realize how stacked this team was, as well as how many good people there are on this team, and how they just bring in truly good people.
“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.”
Smith wanted a contract extension from Poles and engaged in a public war of words last preseason before playing the first two months of the season. The Bears traded him the day before last year’s deadline for a second-round pick, fifth-round pick and linebacker A.J. Klein. In January, the Ravens gave Smith the contract extension he wanted: five years for $100 million.
The Ravens are 7-2, the Bears 2-7.
