Should the New England Patriots be interested in Roquan Smith?

Chicago Bears’ All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith has requested a trade. Should the New England Patriots be interested in trading for the player?

The NFL world got some significant news today when Chicago Bears’ All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith formally requested a trade from the team.

In the midst of trying to negotiate a long-term deal with Chicago, Smith has apparently had enough.  He is the centerpiece of the Bears’ defense and would be a great get for nearly every team.  In fact, nearly every team would be upgrading their defense by adding Smith.

So, should the New England Patriots make this deal?

There are a few things to unpack here.  The first thing is the likelihood that he is actually traded.  Bears’ General Manager Ryan Poles has been nothing short of a disaster thus far, and his top priority should be trying to develop Justin Fields.

Having an All-Pro linebacker doesn’t really help that.  Poles needs players and draft capital to make this happen.  He needs to infuse the offensive line with more talent and add legitimate NFL receivers to the team.

Trading Roquan Smith could net both players and draft picks, so thinking about this in the long-term, it does make sense to trade Smith if the conditions between him and the Bears are beyond saving.

Next, what would it take to get Smith?  Well, it’ll likely take a mix of players and draft capital.  The Patriots have adequate storages of both, so I think they could put together an enticing package.  If you couple this with the Patriots not being great at drafting, I think it would make sense to part with a draft pick or two to get a surefire player.

Players that stick out as someone that the Bears could want are Isaiah Wynn and Nelson Agholor.  Agholor might be the odd man out in the receiver room, and it appears as if Wynn was demoted to right tackle.

Mike Onwenu can play tackle, and can play it well, so the team could simply slide him over.

Nelson Agholor didn’t do anything wrong, but the additions of DeVante Parker and Tyquan Thornton might make Agholor expendable.

The Bears could desperately use a quality receiver and offensive linemen.

In fact, Agholor would likely be the second option behind Darnell Mooney, and Wynn would easily be their most talented lineman.

The Patriots would also likely have to include a draft pick in this, which I don’t think would be a huge deal.

The team would then have to workout a long-term extension with limited cap space, which gets much larger next offseason.

Being that the Patriots’ offense hasn’t looked good in training camp thus far, relying on the defense more might be the move, and Roquan Smith can greatly improve that unit.