Pro Football Focus continues to snub these Chicago Bears players in top 101 list

Roquan Smith continues to be snubbed by the NFL and now also PFF

Roquan Smith has yet to earn his way to the Pro Bowl despite the fact that he has deserved to be there in both 2020 and 2021. Smith was also snubbed from the First-Ballot All-Pro team and was instead a Second-Team All-Pro both seasons.

Now, Pro Football Focus is leaving him off of their top 101 list for 2021. This is a strange idea to me, but granted I am biased. To remove my subjective opinion from the matter, let’s take a look at a few of the names who did make the list at Roquan Smith’s position.

The top linebacker to be named was Micah Parsons. Parsons came in at 10th overall. I have no problem with Parsons making this list, or even being the top linebacker. He had one hell of a rookie season and it will be fun to watch his career unfold.

Next up was De’Vondre Campbell for the Packers. Listen, I had issues with Campbell making the First-Team All-Pro team and already went on a rant about Roquan Smith not making it over Campbell. Let’s just take a quick look at the numbers:

Combined Tackles:
Roquan Smith – 163       De”Vondre Campbell – 146
Solos:
Roquan Smith – 95         De’Vondre Campbell – 102
Assists:
Roquan Smith – 68         De’Vondre Campbell – 44
Tackles for Loss:
Roquan Smith – 12         De’Vondre Campbell – 6
Sacks:
Roquan Smith – 3.0        De’Vondre Campbell – 2.0
Forced Fumbles:
Roquan Smith – 0           De’Vondre Campbell – 2
Interceptions:
Roquan Smith – 1           De’Vondre Campbell – 2
Touchdowns:
Roquan Smith – 1           De’Vondre Campbell – 0

These two were practically identical this season. Campbell deserved to make the list and I wouldn’t even be upset if he was ranked higher.

The rest of the linebackers who made the list while Roquan Smith didn’t include Darius Leonard (56), Fred Warner (70) and Demario Davis (88). Leonard had a down year by his standards in the tackle department (75), but he forced a league-leading eight fumbles (PFF is only saying seven) and also four interceptions. He deserves to be on this list too.

My problem lies mostly with Fred Warner and Demario Davis being included over Smith. Warner had 16 fewer tackles, 10 fewer assists, 2.5 fewer sacks, five fewer tackles for loss, double the missed-tackle rate and was worse in pass protection. How in the world is Warner included over Roquan Smith? Demario Davis’ numbers are even a little worse. Not including Smith in this list is blasphemy.