Roquan Smith Publicly Bashes Bears Ahead of Family Fest Day

When it comes to ripping the Bears, it’s not all in the family.

Defensive player Roquan Smith is currently not happy with the Chicago Bears. The former No. 9 overall pick in the NFL Draft released a Notes statement to insiders today in which he described how poorly contract negotiations are going with the new front office management and subsequently he’s requested a trade out of town.

See the report below:

#Bears All-Pro LB Roquan Smith has requested a trade. pic.twitter.com/x4vmOMhROt

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 9, 2022

In his statement, Smith apologized to Bears fans while expressing little faith that negotiations would turn around.

“I haven’t had the chance to talk to the McCaskey family, and maybe they can salvage this, but as of right now I don’t see a path back to the organization I truly love,” Smith said.

Among the frustrations detailed:
— Roquan Smith has lost trust by what he believes are their attempts to take advantage of him.
— He feels this entire process hasn’t been a negotiation, just the Bears trying to strong-arm him with a take-it or leave-it deal https://t.co/E3tqyU6eAe

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 9, 2022

Interesting timing considering this year’s Bears Family Fest is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 9 at Soldier Field.

At the start of training camp, first-year general manager Ryan Poles addressed the team not yet executing a new deal for Smith.

“My feelings for Roquan don’t change at all,” Poles said July 26. “I love the player and the person. And that won’t change. The one thing I’ll ask everyone here, I know I’m going to get a lot of questions and I get it. I’m just not going to talk about contracts and all that, so I wanted to just make sure we addressed it though. In terms of my feelings for him, nothing changes.”

The likely end result of trading Smith is par for the course when a team brings in a new head coach and GM combination.

Welcome to the game outside the game! Follow us on our Sideaction Twitter handle, Instagram, and Facebook for the latest on sports and pop culture news across the web!