The Chicago Bears were still holding out a small hope that maybe the injury suffered by Roquan Smith against the Dallas Cowboys wasn't that bad. Perhaps the MRI would reveal it's only minor and he might be able to play through it after some time to recover. Sadly, that is rarely the case with pec injuries. Matt Nagy appeared in front of the media on Monday and revealed tests confirmed the team fears.
Smith has a torn pectoral and will miss the remainder of 2019.
It's such unfortunate timing because the inside linebacker was playing some of his best football prior to that incident. Even with missing most of the last month of this season, he still finishes with 101 tackles, two sacks, and an interception. He's expected to have surgery in the coming days to repair it. If all things go as planned, it should be a six month recovery time. This would put him right in line to be ready for training camp in July of next year.
Roquan Smith has the look of a budding star
The good news is Smith showed exactly why the Bears drafted him 8th overall in 2018. He looks like a rising star at inside linebacker. Somebody the team can build around for years to come. He's only 22-years old and should be back at full strength without any issues next season. Until then, the team will have to make do with who they have. Nick Kwiatkoski has already established himself as a quality starter in place of the also injured Danny Trevathan.
Smith will be replaced by Kevin Pierre-Louis, a veteran who came over from the Jets this past offseason and performed quite well against the Cowboys in relief. It will be interesting to see how well he can fill that void.
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