One week after the Chicago Bears deactivated inside linebacker Roquan Smith against the Minnesota Vikings for “personal reasons,” he's flying across the pond to London for the team's Week 5 game against the Oakland Raiders, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Though the Bears haven't said Smith will play, he has. “I will play,” Smith said on Thursday, per Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.
“[But] like coach [Matt Nagy] said, it was a personal reason,” said Smith, via Dickerson. “That's behind us now. So just focused on getting better this week and moving on to Oakland.”
On Thursday, Smith mentioned that the NFL mandated that he speak to the media about the subject.
“It was just a personal issue so I'm moving forward,” Smith said, per Dikcerson. “I'm past the situation now actually. Just addressing it because I have to.”
There were reports that Smith wasn't acting like himself leading up to the Minnesota game in Week 4. Twitter, allegedly, found out that he wrecked his car in Chicago, but nothing is definite.
“The whole thing with Roquan, I'll say this, and I said it to you guys the other day; as far as understanding where you all as the media are coming from, I totally get that,” coach Matt Nagy said on Wednesday, via Dickerson. “But hopefully, you guys can respect me and respect us and where we're at and how we're handling this thing. There's some privacy to this and that's all that we're asking. That's why I'm giving you the answers that you're getting. It's nothing personal towards you guys, but it is a personal issue and we're going leave it at that.”
The Bears selected Smith with No. 8 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. The former Georgia Bulldog immediately proved to be a success, as he played all 16 games of his rookie year and led the team in tackles (122).
He is an integral piece to their standout defense.
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