Chicago Bears LB Roquan Smith’s contract situation similar to TJ Watt

With Chicago Bears training camp opening up on Tuesday, all eyes will be on this new regime and how a rebuilding roster looks to compete in 2022.

New general manager Ryan Poles assembled his coaching staff under Matt Eberflus, who promises to get his guys ready by way of a whole lot of running. Eberflus is defensive-minded and brings a toughness, yet a lot of love.

That defensive mindset should bode well for the Bears’ defense, who should actually be a sneaky unit this year. On the back of Roquan Smith and company, Chicago’s defense might just be a fairly formidable unit.

Speaking of Smith, he is still without a contract extension. Because of that, Ian Rapoport reported Monday that Smith will hold out for a deal. But, the entirety of the situation has yet to play out and it could be a lot less scary than it seems.

Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith might play out his contract situation in a similar fashion to a fellow elite linebacker.

If you followed all of the NFL last year, you may remember a similar situation over in the AFC North. Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker TJ Watt was without a contract extension, but instead of holding out, he performed what was dubbed a “hold-in.”

This is exactly what The Chicago Tribune’s Brad Biggs thinks could happen with Smith, which wouldn’t be all bad. In fact, it’s nothing to worry about.

Watt was still at Steelers camp and hung out on the sidelines while the rest of the team practiced. He still showed up and supported his teammates, coaches and was there for the fans as well.

With Smith likely to be in a similar circumstance, there should be no reason to worry about a deal getting done. If he is that confident a contract will get done, and he shows up to “hold in” at camp, then we can all rest easy.

However, if Smith does indeed hold out, then fans will start to feel uneasy.

For now, there is no reason to panic. The Bears should know what they have in Smith, whose past two seasons worth of numbers have only ever been matched by a guy named Ray Lewis.

As one of the best linebackers in all of football who is just finally starting to see some of the credit he deserves, Smith deserves to be paid as a top-5 linebacker. Hopefully, the Bears know this and act on it accordingly.