Chicago Bears: Roquan Smith among NFL’s top players under 25

To fans that watch the NFL week-in and week-out, it’s no surprise that people think Chicago Bears linebacker Roquan Smith is a good player. Roquan Smith has become the Chicago Bears’ defensive leader, all while under 25 years old. That is pretty impressive.

Well, the status of “good” is being upgraded. So, how good is Roquan Smith?

According to Pro Football Focus, Smith is good enough to make their ‘NFL’s top 25 players under the age of 25’.

"We finally saw what Smith could do at the NFL level in 2020, as he realized the special coverage skills that jumped off his tape at the University of Georgia. Smith earned a PFF coverage grade of 84.0 and allowed a passer rating of just 75.8 on throws into his coverage, the second-best mark in football. If he can just take that next step in the run game, he could still jump further up this list."

As stated, Roquan Smith is a very special player to this Chicago Bears defense, and he seems to be improving since he was drafted No. 8 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.

Is Roquan Smith the most important player on the Chicago Bears defense?

Now, this brings up an interesting take regarding this Chicago Bears defense. To many, Khalil Mack is the big name on that defense, and for good reason. The Chicago Bears gave up a lot for him, so him being an important player is somewhat obvious.

However, I’d be willing to say that Roquan Smith is one of, if not the most important, players on that defense. And for that to be the case at such a young age is an amazing thing for Chicago Bears fans.

Even head coach Matt Nagy touched on this in his press conference yesterday.

"He is practicing and showing up to meetings right now like he’s a rookie, and it’s special, you know, it really is. And it’s not talk, it’s real. I mean, he’s out there and everything is 100 miles per hour. He wants to learn, he’s willing to be a sponge, he doesn’t think he knows everything, he’s extremely motivated internally… I’m so pumped to see what he does this year."

So, it’s clear to say that Matt Nagy knows he has a “Dawg” in Roquan Smith, and it’s exciting to see that the Monsters of the Midway mentality didn’t go out the window once Chicago lost its former man-in-the-middle in Brian Urlacher.