Smith to Ravens

[remydat]

The thing is…Joe burrow is a QB. When he delivers, it’s elite impact at the most important position in sports.

Go find me an off the ball LB with better stats than Quan this year? It is fine if you want to argue you don't want to pay an off the ball LB 20m a year. I am talking about people that claim Quan was not good this year or he isn't as good as other off the ball LBs when the stats suggest he has played better than all of them this year.

 

[Enasic]

Go find me an off the ball LB with better stats than Quan this year? It is fine if you want to argue you don't want to pay an off the ball LB 20m a year. I am talking about people that claim Quan was not good this year or he isn't as good as other off the ball LBs when the stats suggest he has played better than all of them this year.

I’ve been torn on it all year but ultimately there’s too many games you don’t even notice him, and even some of his better games are quiet other than the stat sheet. He’s a good player…just not the type of player you pay 20+ mil. He also misses a lot of must have plays in pivotal moments. For a captain and anchor of the D, can’t happen

 

[Spitta Andretti]

I will also say this. Some of the criticisms of Quan are just silly. No player at any position delivers game in and game out. It would be like saying Joe Burrow doesn't deserve a big contract because he played like shit today.

The reality is Quan led the NFL in tackles, led the NFL in run stops, and led the NFL in passer rating against prior to the Dallas game. He is the only off ball LB with multiple ints and sacks. He literally gave up just his 3rd TD in coverage in almost 5 years. The dude is more than deserving of a big contract. The timing and situation was just not right for the Bears at the moment but let's stop trying to knock him because we did not want to pay him.

Do you think the Ravens resign Ro with Lamar Jackson's contract looming? Serious question. Or will they sign one and tag the other?

 

[remydat]

I’ve been torn on it all year but ultimately there’s too many games you don’t even notice him, and even some of his better games are quiet other than the stat sheet. He’s a good player…just not the type of player you pay 20+ mil. He also misses a lot of must have plays in pivotal moments. For a captain and anchor of the D, can’t happen

Ok but did you find another off ball LB with his stats? Again it is fine if you want to argue off ball LBs are not worth 20m a year. I am just trying to figure out what MYTHICAL off ball LB you or anyone else thinks shows up in the stat sheet every signal game ie who are you comparing him too.

Do you think the Ravens resign Ro with Lamar Jackson's contract looming? Serious question. Or will they sign one and tag the other?

No idea but they are good either way. They will likely get a 3rd round comp pick if Quan leaves something the Bears would not have gotten given we will be signing a bunch of players this year. They have the money to sign Quan long term if they want but also would not be shocked if he ends up back with the Bears next year once he tests FA. Not sure the Ravens tag him.

 

[bamainatlanta]

Yes, Jackson seems back. Probably shouldn't say that too loudly, I guess they still have a day to get rid of him. I am actually taking this all a lot better than anyone including me would expect. Guess I'm used to it.

I'll just leave it at this. I never negg on here, ever. But if I see any of you that are loving this deletion of defensive stars, starting new threads saying wtf with the defense, I am gonna negg the shit out of it.

Tell me about DE Uzomah from KSU

 

[bamainatlanta]

Except the 11 teams that drafted LB in the 1st round since 2020.

Go ahead and list those LB’ers so we can dissect their value. I’m going to guess your are lumping in EDGE LB’ers, who are considerably more valuable than off the ball linebacker.

 

[TL1961]

The Ravens made this trade knowing his asking price and I don't see them trading those two picks for a 9 week rental. I expect them to resign him. I expect him to play well. And I expect the national media to make a much bigger deal about him because he's on Baltimore's D.

 

[Probie2429]

Baltimore is all in because LJ contract is going to be huge. Wouldn’t surprise me if Roquan was somewhere else next season. They gave up a 2nd and a 5th because they are desperate considering how poor their D has played.

 

[Toast88]

thats just kicking the can down the road though. eventually hes going to want to get paid and i saw nothing in that dallas game that notes hes 20 mil dollars worth of importance to the defense

Yeah, I mean, you still could've gotten two years of really good play from your franchise middle linebacker by tagging him for less than $20 mil, which is negligible for a very good player when you have $135 mil in cap space.

$20 mil for a really good linebacker is going to be fairly standard in a few years, but I get what you're saying. There are arguments for and against, for sure. What it comes down to is what comes out of the all this draft capital the Bears are compiling.

Poles is betting on himself and his own drafting capabilities (with help from his friends, of course). If he hits on a bunch of these draft picks over the next couple of years and one or two of them even become stars, it will have been worth it. If it's mostly busts, it won't have been. As I often say on these boards, time will tell.

 

[Bearly]

Damn...we had plenty of money to at least franchise him next season. Why give away one of your best defensive players?! If we needed a QB, then maybe. But I'm down with Fields and I think he has proved as much.

We are just making holes we are going to have to fill. And thats your young, Defensive leader.

A leader that wouldn't take the field all camp while under contract.

 

[DaaBears]

Tell me about DE Uzomah from KSU

You definitely are asking about the right guy. He was ridiculous in 2021 and now is constantly doubled. Pure rusher.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

@remydat where's pff have roquan ranked among LBs? Is he even the bears highest ranked LB?

 

[dennehy]

He's a very good player. He's great if you can keep him clean. He's never been able to stack and shed, lacks strength at the point of attack. With stud DTs he will shine, without them he's a mixed bag. How many times this year have you seen him get off a block 6 yards down field and make a tackle at 8+ yards down field? Many times. Part of that is the function of mediocre DL play. Part of that is his inability to stack and shed.

He's great at coverage and shooting gaps.

I suspect Poles didn't trust him to give his all after he signed his huge deal, but of course I don't know. Perhaps the trust was broken - one way or another or both ways, with negotiations this Summer. There were pretty legit sources saying Poles offered him a deal making him the highest paid off ball LB. We'll never know for sure though.

 

[Spitta Andretti]

@remydat where's pff have roquan ranked among LBs? Is he even the bears highest ranked LB?

I think they had Ro ranked even lower than the LB they got back in the trade AJ. Small sample size for him but, yeah

 

[Chicago4Life]

He's a very good player. He great if you can keep him clean. He's never been able to stack and shed, lack strength at the point of attack. With stud DTs he will shine, without them he's a mixed bag. How many times this year have you seen him get off a block 6 yards down field and make a tackle at 8+ yards down field? Many times. Part of that is the function of mediocre DL play. Part of that is his inability to stack and shed.

He's great and coverage and shooting gaps.

I suspect Poles didn't trust him to give his all after he signed his huge deal, but of course I don't know. Perhaps the trust was broken - one way or another or both ways, with negotiations this Summer. There were pretty legit sources saying Poles offered him a deal making him the highest paid off ball LB. We'll never know for sure though.

it was a good call by poles...smith has been up and down in his performances and wants excess of 20 mill a season...easy decision to get rid of him

 

[Raskolnikov]

Hopefully a good haul

2nd and a 5th is pretty solid return. Sends a pretty bad message to the team though - they are mailing it in

It’s a great haul at this stage of an impossible situation.

We basically got the value of about pick 40-45.

That’s a premium middle linebacker in today’s market. We can directly replace a player on a cheap deal if Sanborn ain’t already the shit.

Given it’s a player we can’t negotiate with in good faith and he’s been holding out and setting principles since college…this is an amazing haul.

The Ravens are clearly desperate to cash in on the Lamar Jackson years.

 

[Raskolnikov]

I don’t buy it but the best time to negotiate a fair deal with Roquan in good faith is 1-2 weeks into free agency when he isn’t seeing his desired record setting deals.

We can come in and offer 15-18 late if we want. I don’t think the organization wants him anymore.

 

[DB012031]

RB is far and away the most replaceable position in football. The 49'ers got fleeced hard and made a bad investment for a guy who's going to be hurt in a couple of weeks anyways.

People get caught up too much in assigning value to LB'ers based on their ability to rush the passer, but totally ignore other aspects of the game that can make a LB'er valuable. Roquan is a tackling machine and he's probably the best pass coverage LB'er in the NFL, and has been for a while. He is elite. You don't trade elite talent for 2nd round picks unless they are over the hill and approaching 30, which Roquan is most definitely not. He's right smack dab in the midst of his prime.

This is such a ridiculous trade. Now the Bears are needlessly getting rid of really good players that they're going to have to replace with a worst draft pick than they used to acquire him in the first place. Good luck accomplishing that!

- LB's are all about the system they are in, I'll give you that, so I don't hold that high a priority if they don't rush the passer as much as say an outside 3-4 rush backer. Urlacher was never a sack machine but was elite everywhere else, however, was never really asked to be an elite sack artist. Roquan is no Urlacher
- Roquan is a tackling machine but best pass coverage LB in football...That's a stretch. The Bears have been killed over the middle this year and Roquan has been nowhere to be found. In fact he looks fat and out of shape this year compared to his first few years in the league.
- The relationship with the Bears was pretty broken and the minute he started this mini hold out in preseason (not to mention his rookie year), you knew the Bears weren't going to resign him. Best to get what you can now instead of losing him in the off-season for nothing. So yeah, you trade talent when you know you are not going to resign them.
- Many of the best LB's in the game are 2nd or 3rd rounders ( Fred Warner, Darius Lenord, Lavonte David, Bobby Wagner) so arguing about a worst draft pick doesn't hold that much water when it's clear you can get elite LB talent outside the 1st round.

 

[remydat]

@remydat where's pff have roquan ranked among LBs? Is he even the bears highest ranked LB?

He has always had terrible PFF grades relative to his production mainly for the reason @dennehy pointed out. He struggled shedding blocks.

His grade was 50.8 which was 51st. Last year when he made All Pro it was 47.8.

 

[remydat]

- LB's are all about the system they are in, I'll give you that, so I don't hold that high a priority if they don't rush the passer as much as say an outside 3-4 rush backer. Urlacher was never a sack machine but was elite everywhere else, however, was never really asked to be an elite sack artist. Roquan is no Urlacher
- Roquan is a tackling machine but best pass coverage LB in football...That's a stretch. The Bears have been killed over the middle this year and Roquan has been nowhere to be found. In fact he looks fat and out of shape this year compared to his first few years in the league.
- The relationship with the Bears was pretty broken and the minute he started this mini hold out in preseason (not to mention his rookie year), you knew the Bears weren't going to resign him. Best to get what you can now instead of losing him in the off-season for nothing. So yeah, you trade talent when you know you are not going to resign them.
- Many of the best LB's in the game are 2nd or 3rd rounders ( Fred Warner, Darius Lenord, Lavonte David, Bobby Wagner) so arguing about a worst draft pick doesn't hold that much water when it's clear you can get elite LB talent outside the 1st round.

Quan had the best passer rating against prior to the Dallas game. He also had give up just 2 TDs in almost 4.5 years.