Georgia football: Roquan Smith finally signs rookie contract with Chicago
Former Georgia football linebacker Roquan Smith signed his rookie contract with the Chicago Bears on Monday.
The wait is finally over for Georgia football fans, Chicago Bears fans, and Roquan Smith fans. The 2017 Butkus Award Winner finally signed his rookie contract with the Bears after a 29-day hold out. The contract is for four years and $18 million.
The reason for the delay? Language in the contract presented by the Bears that stated that they could claim some of Smith’s guaranteed money in the case of his suspension for an illegal helmet-to-helmet hit. Being a fly all over the field, inside linebacker, that wording concerned Smith and his agents Todd France, Ben Renzin and Brian Ayrault of Creative Artists Agency.
Given Smith’s intensity, style of play and position, he’ll likely find himself in a position where he can’t avoid what the NFL and its officials would deem an illegal hit. And no player would want to lose money based on something that might have been unavoidable.
The details about the amended contract haven’t come out yet so we’ll have to wait to find out if the Bears conceded to Smith, or if Smith was just ready to end the struggle and get to work with his new team.
And Smith has a lot of work to do. He missed the entire camp, 15 practices and two preseason games so far. He’s likely behind on conditioning and despite studying the playbook, he’s yet to work through the schemes.
Next. Georgia, Auburn and the College football Mecca of Atlanta. dark
But we might not have to wait too much longer to watch Smith play for the Bears. He has joined the team in Denver in preparation for their Saturday night preseason game against the Broncos. The Bears host former Bulldogs Justin Houston, Chris Conley and their team, the Kansas City Chiefs next Saturday.