Which way is the stock trending on the Chicago Bears third-year linebacker Roquan Smith?
You can write the same story about almost every Chicago Bears. In 2018, Roquan Smith outperformed expectations, and in 2019 he regressed down to earth. It was an issue for far too many players in 2019.
For Smith, it is frustrating because going from year one to two; you would assume that he would see more steady progression. Instead, we saw a bit of a sophomore slump.
To be fair to Smith, he had some issues off of the field. Some were personal, so it is hard to get into.
Still, the Bears expected him to step into the play-caller role, but Danny Trevathan continued to call plays, and even Nick Kwiatkoski stepped in as the vocal leader over Smith.
Entering 2020, Smith is going to need to show that 2019 was a blip on the radar and that he will be back into form in 2020.
The Bears signed Trevathan this offseason, but they should be expecting Smith to take over as the play-caller and leader of the defense again this year. Trevathan still has injury questions around him.
So, when it comes to his offseason stock, it is currently trending up. Sure, he is coming off of a down season. However, on the other side, the Bears expect him to step into a more significant role next year, and there is every reason to believe that he can continue to make strides in 2020.