One day after he demanded a trade with a 343-word statement that accused his bosses of negotiating in bad faith, Roquan Smith was taken off the Bears’ physically unable to perform list.
The Bears had put him on PUP to begin training camp. Head coach Matt Eberflus claimed that Smith had an injury they discovered when he checked into camp — but refused to specify what it was.
Now the Bears are making no such team. They’re telling the league that Smith is able to practice — and that if he doesn’t, it’s because of a choice he made.
The league does not mandate teams to fine players who, like Smith, is a “hold-in” and attending meetings at Halas Hall.
He watched practice Wednesday, the same way he had all year.
It’s unlikely that Smith returns to practice Thursday.
Smith’s statement Tuesday escalated a situation that had simmered since April, when Smith — who said at the time he wanted to stay with the Bears — began talking about a contract extension with the first-year general manager. Smith does not have an agent and, according to his statement Tuesday, took low contract offers personally. In a letter he released Tuesday morning, just hours before “Family Fest” at Soldier Field, Smith said Bears GM Ryan Poles had “refused to negotiate in good faith” and the new regime’s “focus had been on trying to take advantage of me.”
Smith is entering the fifth and final year of his rookie deal and wants a deal similar to — if not higher than — the roughly 5-year, $100 million contacts given the Colts’ Shaquille Leonard and the 49ers’ Fred Warner last year.
Smith, though, doesn’t have significant leverage. The Bears can make him play this season and then give him the franchise tag in 2023, but both sides would be more comfortable with a contract extension.
“Right now my intentions are to sign Roquan to this team,” Poles said Tuesday. “And we’re going to take it day-by-day. At the end of the day we’ve got to do what’s best for this organization. But my intentions are to make sure Roquan Smith’s on this team.”
