Bears trade star linebacker to Ravens

Christopher Hanewinckel - USA Today Sports

Tony Crumpton · Senior Editor · Monday, October 31 2022

The Chicago Bears are making moves at the trade deadline as another key defender is gone.

The Bears have traded star linebacker Roquan Smith to the Ravens for veteran linebacker A.J. Klein and a 2023 second and fifth-round draft picks.

Part of the trade includes the Bears paying $4.83 million of the $5.408 million left in Smith's contract for the 2022 season. The two teams were in discussion about this trade for the past week.

Smith has an NFL-leading 83 tackles, 2.5 sacks, including four tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, three passes defended, and two interceptions in 8 games this season. Remarkably, he played in all the snaps on defense through the eight games.

For his career, he has 608 tackles, 16.5 sacks, and seven interceptions. He was one of two players in the NFL with 15+ sacks and 5+ interceptions over the last five seasons along with Shaquille Leonard.

He was in a contract year and wanted to become the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL. Obviously, the Bears wanted to spend their money elsewhere, as they will have over $120 million in cap space in 2023.

The 25-year-old was the No. 8 overall pick of the Bears in 2018.

The Bears have already traded away veteran Robert Quinn before the deadline and now Smith.

The Monsters of the Midway now have stockpiled a first-round pick, two second-rounders, one third-rounder, two fourth-rounders, two fifth-round picks, and two seventh-round picks for the 2023 NFL draft.

Smith will join a Ravens team that is currently 5-3 and has title aspirations.

More to come on this breaking news story.