Is this former GM a perfect fit with Chicago Bears?
The Chicago Bears are set to interview Rick Smith, former General Manager of the Houston Texans. Smith retired in 2018 to take care of his wife who was diagnosed with cancer. His wife, unfortunately, passed away in 2019, and after some time off, Smith is now interested in getting back into the NFL.
Rick Smith held his job with the Houston Texans for a long time, leading the team from 2006-2017. However, his journey started as a coach.
As a Purdue graduate, he spent time as a strength and conditioning coach, tight ends coach, and secondary coach.
In 1996, he was hired to be the Denver Broncos assistant defensive backs coach. It helped to be coaching John Elway, but the team won two Super Bowls with Smith. The biggest thing that happened to Smith over that time was forming a relationship with Mike Shanahan and Gary Kubiak.
In 2000, Shanahan helped promote Smith from a coach to a front office executive. He was in the front office from 2000-2005. In 2006, the Houston Texans hired. Gary Kubiak, who was the Broncos offensive coordinator at the time.
Kubiak helped the Texans find a GM, and that was Rick Smith. The rest is history. In Smith’s time with the Texans, he drafted big names such as J.J. Watt, Deshaun Watson, and DeAndre Hopkins. He also turned an expansion team that could not get anything right into a perennial contender, and that was with Matt Schaub and Brock Osweiler as the quarterbacks.
When Smith drafted Watson he stepped down not long after. However, it was his conviction on Watson that caused the Texans to trade up.
Why Rick Smith is perfect for Chicago Bears
There are many takeaways from Rick Smith here. The first is that as a player, his interest in Watson during that draft is all that fans wanted from a GM. While he did not get to reap the benefits of Watson, Justin Fields has similarities as a player, and Smith may be the perfect person to build a team for Fields.
His team building is phenomenal as shown by his ability to win without a quarterback. Now, coming to Chicago with the QB in place, he should do just fine.
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Lastly is his connection to the Kubiak-Shanahan tree. That tree birthed the Sean McVay tree in Washington and it speaks to Smith having a long list of potential head coaches to call. While there are many candidates looking for their first job, Smith had great success during his first stint. Other factors took him away from the game, but this is an experienced successful person who could be having the best yet to come.