Report: Chicago Bears trade Roquan Smith to Baltimore Ravens for multiple picks, A.J. Klein

The Chicago Bears just traded one of the young defense stars to the Baltimore Ravens, linebacker Roquan Smith. And their compensation for the former Georgia Bulldog has just been revealed. According to ESPN’s Josina Anderson, in exchange for Smith, the Bears will receive linebacker AJ Klein and two picks in the upcoming 2023 NFL draft; one second-round pick and a fifth-round pick.

Through seven games, Smith led the NFL in tackles with 78 stops. He had double-digit tackles in five out of his last six games coming into Sunday before totaling five in a loss to the Dallas Cowboys. Since they started tallying the statistic in 1994, no Bears player has finished a season atop the NFL in tackles. He has 2.5 sacks on the season, all on third down too.

This trade comes less than a week after Chicago traded edge rusher Robert Quinn to the Philadelphia Eagles for a fourth-round pick in the upcoming draft. As for Smith, he was in the final season of his rookie contract and was projected to command at least a $17.6 million price tag this offseason. That responsibility will now shift to the Ravens, who also have a young star linebacker already on the roster anticipating a nice-sized payday before the end of his rookie contract in former LSU Tiger Patrick Queen.

Smith traded to Baltimore Ravens

Former Georgia star linebacker Roquan Smith is on the move in the NFL. Starting his career off with the Chicago Bears and playing the first four-plus seasons in the Windy City, Smith has reportedly been traded to the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens were tied for second in the NFL starting the season for the team with the most Georgia players. With Smith’s addition, they are now tied for first with the Los Angeles Chargers totaling four (Ben Cleveland, Justin Houston, Nick Moore and Smith).

The Bears exercised their right to fifth-year option Smith’s contract which guaranteed him a salary of $9.7 million for the 2022 season, but Smith tried to negotiate for more over the offseason. He requested a trade at that time stating the reason being that the “new front office regime doesn’t value me here,” and did not report practice with the Bears during the start of training game. He ended that hold out in late August and stated that he would no longer continue to negotiate with the Bears’ front office during the 2022 season, making him a free agent at the end of the year.