A contract that should make both Roquan Smith and Chicago Bears happy
The Chicago Bears and Roquan Smith should both agree to this deal
When we look into the salary of Darius Leonard (highest-paid off-the-ball linebacker) and Fred Warner (second-highest-paid), we can find some wiggle room between the two of them. From an AAV standpoint, Leonard is earning $19.7 million, while Warner is making $19.05 million. I have laid out on numerous occasions how Roquan Smith has been better than Warner over the last two years and he deserves to be paid more than Warner now.
Rumors are that the Chicago Bears came in around $17 million in AAV. If that’s the case, I’d be upset too if I was Smith. To make this work, the easy thing to do in my opinion is to find the right spot between these two numbers and build things up with incentives. Don’t threaten to take money away, but instead, incentivize Roquan Smith to achieve even more greatness.
The layout of Darius Leonard’s contract was a five-year, $98.5 million dollar deal including a $20 million signing bonus and $52.5 million guaranteed. Fred Warner’s contract was also for five years. His deal was worth $95.23 million including a $12.3 million signing bonus and $40.5 million guaranteed. Using these numbers, here is what I’d propose the Chicago Bears offer Smith so we can all move on prior to the start of the 2022 NFL season.
The Chicago Bears should offer Roquan Smith a five-year deal worth $96.8 million dollars, including a $20 million signing bonus and $48 million guaranteed. This would put Smith at an AAV of $19.36 million. I’m not done though.
Remember how I said the best player isn’t always the highest-paid player? Well, to incentivize Smith to become the highest-paid player at his position, the Bears should also include some annual escalators that will allow Smith the ability to turn that deal into a $106.8 million dollar deal — that’s basically an extra $2 million per year that Smith can earn by hitting specific stats, making playoff appearances, being voted to the Pro Bowl and/or being a First-Team All-Pro.
If Roquan Smith doesn’t like this offer, well, then he can kindly shove off and the team can move him via a trade. Thoughts? Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? Even if Smith hits those incentives, that’s only $4 million per year over the rumored original offer. If he doesn’t we are talking $2 million. You don’t let a top-three player at his position go over $2 million dollars.