A yr in the past when Roquan Smith talked to the media after his first follow as a Bear, he learn an announcement thanking police in Georgia for recovering objects that had been stolen objects from his automotive.
This time, he talked soccer from the beginning.
“It feels great just to be out here,” Smith stated eventually week’s OTA practices. “Our livelihood. [Being] out here — smell the green grass and going after each other a bit. That’s always great.”
This is already a brand new season for Smith. Last yr he was a gifted rookie — the eighth general decide within the draft — getting acclimated to the NFL amid excessive expectations and studying a brand new protection that almost all of his teammates knew by coronary heart. Then a contract holdout led to Smith lacking most of coaching camp and the complete preseason.
After taking part in simply eight snaps within the opener in opposition to the Packers — a fairly good accomplishment contemplating how a lot time he missed — Smith caught up rapidly. He led the Bears with 121 tackles, with eight tackles-for-loss, 5 sacks, one interception and 5 pass-breakups. He was named a Pro Bowl alternate.
After the powerful begin final yr, Smith has the wind at his again as he builds on that momentum in 2019. He has a yr of NFL expertise to lean on. He’s a longtime starter. He’s acquainted with his teammates. And he figures to be able to go from Day 1 of coaching camp. And whereas he’s studying the tweaks of the protection below new coordinator Chuck Pagano, so is all people else.
“It’s definitely different,” stated Smith, who turned 22 on April 8. “I feel like things have slowed down for me. But it’s all ball at the end of the day. I’m more comfortable.”
As a rookie final yr, Smith deferred to veteran Danny Trevathan because the chief of their inside-linebacking tandem. But after a gradual begin due to the holdout, Smith’s growth as a playmaker and player-to-watch on each down turned increasingly more obvious because the season progressed. It figures that sooner or later this season, Smith will emerge as a star and chief of this season.
“I definitely think I can make a larger impact [this] year,” Smith stated. “You can always get better. I feel like I can make a more of an impact on every play.”
Already, Smith’s skill to select up the nuances of Pagano’s defensive adjustments have made an impression.
“He’s one of the brightest, smartest guys I’ve been around for just a second-year player. He’s phenomenal,” Pagano stated. “He’s very quiet. He doesn’t say much. He’d be a great poker player because you can never read what’s going on inside his head and doesn’t show a lot of emotion. But he’s absorbing everything. The guy doesn’t make mistakes. On the field he does a lot of things you can’t coach.”
Smith got here to the Bears as a possible plug-and-play draft decide. “He was one of the best college linebackers I had ever seen,” stated Mark DeLeone, the Bears’ first-year inside linebackers coach, who evaluated Smith at Georgia because the Chiefs’ inside linebackers coach final yr.
Once he acquired in a rhythm, Smith was pretty much as good as marketed. But at the same time as he excelled, it was simple to see how far more productive he could possibly be with expertise. He does so many issues effectively, Smith doesn’t have a evident weak point. But he can do every little thing at a a lot greater degree — and react much more instinctively now that he’s seen NFL offenses function.
“I’m more so improving everything — not just one thing I’m focusing on,” Smith stated.
“He’s special,” DeLeone stated of Smith. “You would hope that with any rookie there would be progress the more he played — which is what happened with him here, because he got here late. You see a guy who’s natural. Some guys just kind of look like linebackers once you’re out there. He looks like a linebacker.”