Chicago Bears: Don’t put too much hope on Roquan Smith just yet
Chicago Bears fans put a lot of hope on linebacker Roquan Smith as soon as he was drafted. Let’s take a pause and not expect him to be a savior just yet.
The Chicago Bears went a long way to reverse all the losing of recent years. They hired offensive-minded coaches to help in the development of Mitch Trubisky. They also gave the second-year quarterback many targets for him to choose. In addition, they re-hired Harry Hiestand to help in the offensive line’s development.
On defense, the team kept defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. He ran a top-ten defense (even with injuries) last season. Furthermore, they added some pieces so he could build a top-five defense.
One of those pieces given to Fangio was linebacker Roquan Smith. He was the eighth overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft.
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The Bears have a history of great linebackers. When you think of an all-time great linebacker, you’ll usually think of a Bear.
As soon as the Bears drafted Smith, fans expected him to be next in line. In fact, they feel that the Bears will have a great defense again and Smith will be the reason for it.
Is all this hype so soon fair, though?
Smith may very well be the next great Chicago Bears linebacker. He just may win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Let’s just let him get there on his own, however. People are already comparing him to Brian Urlacher or Mike Singletary. That’s a lot to put on a young man’s plate.
I understand that the cream rises to the top and that if Smith has the pressure put on him we’ll find out quickly how good (or bad) he really is. However, to expect him to play like a Hall of Famer from snap one is too much to expect.
We need to let Smith learn the NFL on his own. He has a great coach in Fangio helping him. Fangio has made many players’ careers, putting them in positive situations. He’ll do the same for Smith. Let Fangio do his thing and we’ll all be happy.
Here is a Fangio quote (via the Chicago Tribune) that puts things in perspective:
"Right now he’s just trying to learn everything and he’s doing well at that, working hard at it. We’ll see. Right now he has to earn his stripes. He had a good enough college career both on and off the field to get drafted where he was, and now he has to prove his worth. But he’s doing well."
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Smith has the ability to be a very good or even great linebacker. Beware of suffocating him, however. He doesn’t need to be the next Urlacher or Singletary or Dick Butkus. Let him be the first Roquan Smith.