LB SMITH SAYS BEARS DON’T VALUE HIM
Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles plans to continue to work for a contract extension with linebacker Roquan Smith instead of his request to be traded.
Smith, who is under contract through the 2022 season, is staging a “hold-in” and attending practices without actually practicing until he gets an extension, but Tuesday he made public an official request for a trade.
“Right now my intentions are to sign Roquan to this team,” Poles said after the Bears held a Tuesday practice at Soldier Field. “And we’re going to take it day by day. At the end of the day we’ve got to do what’s best for this organization. But my intentions are to make sure Roquan Smith’s on this team.”
Smith practiced with the team throughout the offseason voluntary and mandatory work but was not participating on the field when training camp began.
“Unfortunately the new front office regime doesn’t value me here,” Smith wrote on Twitter. “They’ve refused to negotiate in good faith, every step of the journey has been ‘take it or leave it.’
“The deal sent to me is one that would be bad for myself and for the entire LB market if I signed it.”
Smith does not have an agent and is trying to negotiate for himself.
McVay announces extension
Coach Sean McVay says he has finalized his contract extension with the Rams.
McVay and the Rams didn’t reveal the terms of the long-expected deal, but the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl reaffirmed his long-term commitment to Los Angeles after practice Tuesday in training camp at UC Irvine.
“I feel good,” McVay said. “It was always kind of really good dialogue that existed. These things, they take time, but I think it’s important.”
McVay didn’t say exactly when he finalized the deal, but it apparently happened before training camp. The 36-year-old coach is beginning his sixth season in charge of the Rams, and he has been the youngest coach in the NFL throughout his tenure.
McVay said two weeks ago that the sides were still working through a new deal, but he also said the Rams intended to announce the contract extensions for him and GM Les Snead at the same time. On Friday, McVay said that’s why he had hoped to wait to confirm his own new deal, until it was mentioned in a lengthy profile of the coach posted Tuesday on ESPN.com.
Likely out for year
New York Jets right tackle Mekhi Becton will “more than likely” miss the entire season because of another injury to his surgically repaired right knee, coach Robert Saleh announced Tuesday.
Becton was having a second evaluation after suffering a chip fracture to his kneecap, Saleh confirmed, during the second play of 11-on-11 team drills Monday. The initial prognosis was optimistic, but an MRI later in the day revealed more damage to the knee than first expected.
“It’s probably the inevitable,” Saleh said of the severity of the injury. “I’m just sick for Mekhi.”
When asked to clarify if Becton’s season appears over, Saleh said: “Yeah, it’s more than likely.”
Notable
The Washington Commanders fired defensive line coach Sam Mills III and replaced him with Jeff Zgonina, the assistant defensive line coach.
The record $4.65 billion sale of the Denver Broncos to Walmart heir Rob Walton and his daughter and son-in-law has been unanimously approved by NFL owners.