Chicago Bears: 5 major impacts of Roquan Smith holdout

A precedent is being set

In the past, the Bears have made it known that they can tend to be pretty cheap. Let’s not forget what happened that forced Brian Urlacher to retire. The soon-to-be Hall of Fame linebacker wanted just a couple million dollars more to return, and the Bears scoffed at him, making his decision to retire that much easier.

Of course, one could bring up the fact that the Bears haven’t necessarily been cheap when it comes to the quarterback position — essentially one of the only exceptions here. Mike Glennon got $18 million for a season. Jay Cutler was brought in for three first-round picks. Those are some big-time exceptions.

But, the precedent being set going forward with the Smith situation should send a message to the team as well as future Bears. This organization is not playing around and wants the upper hand. Per David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune, here’s a little insight to where the team is at currently:

"“But Smith remains away from training camp because his representatives at CAA Football have insisted the Bears go even further and include contract language protecting the player from discipline for behavior outside the realm of a football play. The Bears’ reluctance to do so revolves around their fear of setting a precedent for future contracts and has nothing to do with concerns about Smith’s character, the source said.”"

Whether you agree with it or not, this is sending a message to the locker room. I won’t pretend like I have an inside scoop into the minds of the players in the locker room right now, but I can’t imagine every player agrees with the Bears on this one.

Could this be potentially damaging to the locker room? Could it be rubbing some players the wrong way? Absolutely. Let’s not look past that possibility. Any current players wanting to get paid via extension in the future are certainly paying attention to this closely.