I mean, for fuck's sake. Roquan has no agent and has had contract issues before (as we all remember, I'm sure). That is going to complicate things enough. But on top of that you have a first time GM that has never seen Roquan in their coming 4-3 defense, before. I get that you want to rebuild, as a team. But Fields and Roquan should be the pieces around which you do it. This shouldn't be happening. The worst part is, him demanding a trade immediately hurts his trade value, so it's bad on all sides for the team and the fans. This is a bad development. And it might just get worse. Cool, cool...
Unpopular Take - Deal him as quickly as you can and move on. This is the beginning of reshaping the foundation. If blood has to be shed, just make the amputation and cauterize the wound without hesitation. Dragging it on will do nothing to expedite the building of the team, and it's hard to envision him as a building block with the short history he has in Chicago.
Or take it for what it is....a tactic by a player without an agent. He did this on the morning of fan fest....he wants the fans to rally and be vocal about it. This is a player trying to pressure a rookie GM. If you trade him quick you are giving in to that pressure. Everything we've seen from Poles so far suggest he won't do that.
I think it was a total power play trying to force a contract now. By a young player that doesn't have an agent and isn't getting very good advice. Roquan has to know he's already a star in the minds of his fans and Bears fans worship great linebackers. His team has a good young QB and added some young exciting DBs via the draft this past offseason. I don't see a 25 year old being in a mindset of gotta win now and look for a contender. He knows the Bears have a crap ton of cap room starting next offseason.....unless he's not thinking logically it makes sense to want to stay in Chicago.
The time to do that was months ago if that was the plan, preferably before the draft, especially when we were short on draft capital. Same with Robert Quinn. I get the idea of shedding cap and drafting talent, and it's on the surface not a bad one and the Bears are definitely, definitely rebuilding. But I'm also not a huge fan of losing young talent. I agree, dline notes he has no agent, so this is him trying to force their hand. That said, I read the contract they gave him was a lowball, with DE-escalators late in the contract, and it was a "take it or leave it" contract. And frankly I'm not sure how Poles or the McCaskey's will feel about threatening the trade to the public. I'm on the fence and think it's about 50/50 at the moment that they actually do trade him. They (and several here) project him at wil in the 4-3 and there are a lot of teams that would bid for his services throughout the league. Given Poles is "Tank Commanding" this year, if he doesn't see Roquan as a part of that eventual future, he'd be on the block. But by the same token, it's pre-season and holdouts are not uncommon.
It's 100% about the money. This is pretty much who Roquan always has been. Dude is a good player and not a miscreant, but he's got big dollar signs in his eyes at all times. He's never been the brightest dude with this stuff, either. I can't imagine that a new, defensive head coach and a system change would scare him off. This is a guy who wants to be paid big, and is mad he's not getting it yet. Question is, why is Poles lowballing (if that's the case)? Either this guy is a foundational part of your team and you pay him, or you traded him before he put you in this shitty position. Something's not smelling right, here - either Roquan or Poles is being dumb. Side note, baby was born happy and healthy. Typing one handed at the moment. Months of docs telling us he wasn't viable / would need to be born months early / would have major handicaps was VERY stressful. Very glad they were all wrong. Kiddo is doing great. Thanks for being there through it all, y'all. Every outlet helps.
Much appreciated. We're just over a week in and he's still doing great, so fingers crossed. Wife is slightly upset that he looks just like me. Didn't mean to derail the conversation.
Bingo. Of the two, I'd put more blame probably on Poles than Roquan, as he isn't sussing out what type of person Roquan is. Or maybe he's never had to deal with a non-agent player negotiating. But at the end of the day you nail it. Either he is a foundational part of your team and you pay him, or you trade him at the top of his value. He got rid of Mack without hesitation. Congratulations dude, that is awesome to hear. My little man just started hockey, though I had no idea how young they start, at 9 he was super old compared to the rest of the learn to play kids. It does go fast.
I appreciate y'all. Excited for the ride. Less excited about this Roquan garbage. And yeah, vv - I'm already reading up on how to get him on skates without suffering any head injuries. We're a few years off from that, though. My wife will probably remind me that there's a million other things he might want to do instead. But he's already very strong (every nurse and doctor has told us that, without fail), so I want to foster that strength and always give him outlets for it.
Much appreciated, Tuna. I hope you guys are doing well, too! To the Roquan situation - I read that Adam Schefter was giving interviews about how the Bears were shocked at the response, the contracts they offered were good, and Roquan is essentially asking for way above top of market value. I have never and will never trust Adam Schefter. You actually listen to his interview, and it sounds very much like a former President just making shit up at the podium as he goes. I don't think anyone has insight on this that's willing to share it, yet. Hopefully we learn more soon.
So, today the NFL released a statement reminding all teams of what constitutes tampering. Specifically, they did this because teams were reportedly being contacted by someone claiming to be Roquan's representative... which is weird, considering he doesn't have an authorized representative. I said it earlier - Roquan has never been the brightest bulb off the football field. It looks like that's playing out.
This is the second time in Roquan's short career that he's been coming into a new defense and sat out the off-season for bitchy contract disputes. So, even if he does re-sign here, he does it having missed a crucial off-season. I'm starting to get pissed off.
