Matt Nagy Admits He's In Fear of His Life Around Roquan Smith

Matt Nagy has earned praise from a lot of people for his conduct during the preseason. His goal for the Chicago Bears is obvious. The starters or other players of consequence to the team's 2019 season do not play. Why? He's not going to lose them to injury in meaningless football games for the sake of some extra reps. He like everybody else understands that nothing sinks a football team faster during a season than injuries.

However, there is one minor problem that has emerged with this decision. Apparently some of the players on the roster aren't handling the long stretches of no game action well. A common description is they're acting like "caged animals." While this means potential bad news for the Green Bay Packers on opening night September 5th, it also has endangered the head coach himself.

While meeting the media on Monday outside Halas Hall, Nagy fielded questions about the mental state of the players. One name that was brought up was their promising second-year linebacker Roquan Smith. Nagy revealed that he's been trying to keep a good distance away from him out of fear for his own safety.

Matt Nagy is wise to keep his distance from Smith

Don't be fooled by the somewhat calm personality in front of the cameras. Smith is a baller. He is ultra-competitive and it shows on every single snap. There's a reason he was the 8th overall pick in the 2018 draft. The guy lives for hitting people. If his head coach won't let him do that to opponents, then maybe he'll just hit the coach instead. Smith already showed evidence of his readiness with a sack in his brief preseason appearance during the first preseason game.

Jokes aside, it's clear that expectations are high for Smith in 2019. With good reason too. Despite no training camp last year, he almost broke the Bears rookie record for tackles in a season while adding five sacks and an interception. Now he has the benefit of experience and a full offseason behind him. There's no telling how much better he could be this year. The Bears have sky-high confidence in him, including his head coach.