Roquan’s Future, New Fifth-Year Option Rules, Prayers Up For Mongo, and Other Bears Bullets

At this time next week, we’ll be discussing the Chicago Bears’ first first-round pick since taking Roquan Smith in the 2018 NFL Draft. That is, of course, unless the Bears trade out of the first round.

•   Speaking of Roquan Smith, he won the Ed Block Courage Award. It’s always neat to see really good players win awards that honor things they do off the field.

•   It will soon be time to pivot to the future when talking about Smith. More specifically, Smith’s long-term future with the team. I see that ESPN’s Jake Trotter reports the Browns are picking up he fifth-year option on Baker Mayfield’s deal. The first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft will make $18.858 million on the fifth year of his rookie deal. If you’ll recall, this class of rookies is the first wherein the fifth-year option is fully guaranteed. In other words, teams can’t do what the Bears did with Leonard Floyd and pick up a player’s fifth-year option, only to cut him before that option season and create cap space at the end of the process. Once your team picks up the option, it is tied to that player.

•   This brings me to Smith, who could be come the second first-round pick of the Ryan Pace era to get their option picked up by the team. Pro Football Talk estimates Smith’s pith-year option will be worth $9.735 million. That’s a fair price for a top-10 pick coming off a second-team All-Pro season. But more than that, I wonder if it’s a starting point for an extension. My mind is flip-flopping between thinking it’s too early to think about extending Smithcan the Bears afford to extend *ANOTHER* defensive player, and what’s the point of drafting studs if you’re not going to reward your own? Pace needs to strike a balance with how he spends his cap space. But my lean, as of right now, is that it would be nice to extend a core member of your team no matter what side of the ball he plays.

•.  It’s a sad stat that Pace has seen first-round picks Kevin White, Leonard Floyd, and Mitchell Trubisky not make it to a fifth year with the team. And to this point, Floyd is the only one to have landed a sizable second contract. Pace has had his hits elsewhere in the draft, but three top-10 picks not making it to a second contract with the team that selected them is quite damning.

•   I see the Bears highlighted a different member of the 2018 NFL Draft class. Someone who – like Smith – is a standout defender worthy of a modest extension before the expiration of his rookie deal:

•   Watching Bilal Nichols’ career arc has been a treat. To grow from a fifth-round pick from Delaware into a solid rotational defender doesn’t happen overnight. However, the Bears have done wonders with unexpected contributors along the defensive line. Nichols is one in a line of many. Not that I’m looking forward to a time where Akiem Hicks isn’t wrecking opposing offensive linemen while in a Bears uniform. But whenever he is ready to pass the torch, I can see Nichols being the one to take it and run with it.

•   I love how they put Walter Payton in some Jordan 1 Hyper Royals, which are one of the hottest Air Jordan releases of 2021. True G.O.A.T. on G.O.A.T. action:

•   Prayers up for Mongo:

•   Way to go, Jimmy:

•   It’s never too early to look ahead to who is available at a position of need:

•   Here’s a tweet I never thought I’d see:

•   Over at BN Cubs, Brett celebrates a bunt:

written by

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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