As the contract negotiations with Roquan Smith have been stunted, and Smith demanded a trade, Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles has reiterated that Smith is in an unusual spot because he does not have an agent. This hurts both sides in a few ways.
The first is that while the team is viewing the talks as a business decision, Smith sees it as more personal. He does not have the middleman to separate the two. However, another big issue for Smith may be in possibly facilitating a trade.
In most situations when a team grants a player’s demands to get traded, the team will allow the agent to find suitors. The team will allow this because the agent can then throw out contract terms to the new team, which makes the trade much easier to swallow, knowing the acquiring team can extend the player they are trading for.
In the Khalil Mack trade to Chicago, you saw him sign an extension just as he was traded. That is because the Raiders allowed Chicago to talk to Mack’s agent and work something out before Chicago would give up such heavy draft equity.
In the case of Roquan Smith, who is going to be doing that? Is the team going to allow Smith himself to call other teams and work out a deal? Does Smith really have the time to find the best fit for him at this point in the offseason?
When a player gets an initial contract and wants to sign the deal, there is no need for an agent, and it makes sense for the player to keep the agent’s fee. However, now that the negotiations between Roquan Smith and the Chicago Bears are getting messy, you are starting to see the small values to an agent.
Without an agent, teams are going to be more skeptical to trade for Smith because they will be unsure they can work out a deal before the start of the season. This in turn makes Smith less likely to be traded, as the Chicago Bears may not see the value in doing so.