Did Matt Nagy put pressure on Chicago Bears front office?

Matt Nagy seemed to have put the pressure on the Chicago Bears organization to get the Roquan Smith holdout settled soon.

Matt Nagy dropped a bomb on Saturday when he gave new information into the reasoning of the Roquan Smith holdout. The following reaction to his quote about the helmet rule and how it has affected Roquan Smith has been interesting.

It seems as though coming into the interview where Nagy admitted what the hold up was, there was not much reaction yet. The media and fans were unsure of what was going on, and neither side was talking much. Any opinion was just speculative, and the general idea was let’s hope both sides get this wrapped up.

However, since then, the media and fans have shifted to looking at the Chicago Bears front office for the most part.

Today’s Chicago Sun Times column is titled “Onus is on GM Ryan Pace to resolve hold out”

I wrote an article telling the Bears to give in a bit. 

It has been local

It has been national.

It has even given other organizations a chance to gloat and admit that they left the language that the Chicago Bears are fighting for out of their contracts. The Buffalo Bills were first to come out and get recognition for taking that language out of Tremaine Edmunds deal.

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From there, the New York Giants and Los Angelas Rams reported that Saquan Barkley and Todd Gurley got that language removed from their deal as well. Running backs have the least shelf life and the most reason to fight over long-term guaranteed money. However, the Giants and Rams are saying they side with the player that this rule is too subjective to risk firm guarantees for these players. The Bears come out of this all looking cheap.

So, this brings the question, why would Matt Nagy what he said when he said it?

As Leming points out, the first “move” was made in the media by Nagy. However, the results were pro-Smith. Was this planned by Nagy or a backfire in execution?

One argument could be that Matt Nagy is naive. He is a first-year coach who is annoyed with questions, and he admitted an issue. That does not sound like Nagy.

The other idea is that the Chicago Bears told him to say that. However, they know that Roquan Smith and Tremaine Edmunds have the same agent. They understand that the agent can leak that the Bills took that language out. Why would they get so specific, then giving Smiths’ side a secure bargaining chip to help swing the tables? That feels like a real miscalculation by the Chicago Bears.

It may come down to Matt Nagy taking his first stand as a head coach. He may be putting the pressure on the organization to get this thing done. Matt Nagy may personally want Smith in camp. He may agree with Smith. Nagy may see the landscape and think that if other rookies are not being subject to this issue than neither should his. He is a first-year coach, and he wants his first draft pick to start his career on the right track. Now, he is using his power as head coach to take a stand with his player through the media.

Is it that crazy of a theory? The results would have been favorable to his plan thus far. Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy are friends. That does not mean that they are going to go into every single decision with the same ideas or philosophy. It is just business, and Nagy may have finally pulled his leverage to force Pace into a decision he did not want to make. We will see how the reaction continues to play out.