NFL Week 8 Overreactions: Seahawks, Niners a treat for fans
Mackenzie Salmon is back with her spooky takes from NFL Week 8 action. Who’s a treat, and who’s a trick after Sunday’s games? Watch and find outt.
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The Chicago Bears further dismantled their defense Monday as they look toward a rebuild in 2023 and beyond.
The team traded linebacker Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens for a second- and fifth-round pick in next year’s draft, according to reports. The move comes less than a week after pass rusher Robert Quinn was shipped to the Philadelphia Eagles for a Round 4 selection in 2023.
The Ravens add a reliable, productive off-ball backer to a defense that hasn’t consistently had one since Pro Bowler C.J. Mosley signed with the New York Jets in 2019. Though Smith has never been a Pro Bowler or first-team All-Pro, he has the second-most tackles in the league (607) since the Bears made him the eighth overall pick in 2018. He owns 47 career tackles for loss, 20 quarterback hits, 16½ sacks and seven interceptions.
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Smith will likely move into the starting lineup, alongside Patrick Queen, as he attempts to bolster a 24th-ranked defense that has surrendered double-digit leads in all three of Baltimore’s losses this season.
Smith, who’s scheduled to be a free agent next year, held in during the Bears’ training camp but never reached an extension with Chicago’s new management. Negotiations between he and GM Ryan Poles, who was hired from the front office of the Kansas City Chiefs – a team that has not heavily invested in inside linebackers during Andy Reid’s tenure – turned sour before Smith returned to practice over the summer.
Smith, who leads the NFL with 83 tackles (one more than Mosley), was also visibly upset last week when informed of the Quinn trade by local reporters.
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The Bears, who are 3-5 and have one of the league’s worst rosters from a talent perspective, have now added three valuable picks for next year’s draft. According to Over The Cap, Chicago is also projected to have a league-high $121 million in cap space next year, when several onerous contracts of former players (OLB Khalil Mack and QB Nick Foles among them) come off the books.
The NFL trade deadline for 2022 expires at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday.
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Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.
