Josh Tolentino: Ravens leader Roquan Smith must deliver in revenge game

Josh Tolentino, Baltimore Sun on Oct 25, 2025

Published in Football

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BALTIMORE — Roquan Smith will resume his ever-important positions as the Ravens’ middle linebacker, defensive captain and vocal leader on Sunday afternoon, when Baltimore hosts the team that once labeled Smith its future.

The Chicago Bears selected Smith with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2018 draft out of Georgia, watched him blossom into a star and then traded him to Baltimore in October 2022.

Nearly three years later, Smith finally gets his shot against his old team — and it comes at a tumultuous point of the season when the Ravens need their defensive leader most.

Coming out of the bye week, the Ravens are 1-5, and Smith has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury. He’s one of many players who have been affected by injuries this season, but the team appears to be nearing full health on the defensive side with key pieces returning to practice this week, headlined by Smith.

Baltimore’s defense has looked disjointed through its first seven games. As the regular season’s halfway mark approaches, Baltimore uncharacteristically has allowed the most points in the NFL (32.3 per game).

Now, Smith, a five-time All-Pro selection, has a prime opportunity to channel the expected high level of emotions in his return against the same Bears team that didn’t believe he was worth the payday he received in Baltimore.

A couple of months after the Ravens traded linebacker A.J. Klein plus second-round and fifth-round draft picks to Chicago in exchange for Smith, they signed him to a five-year extension worth $100 million with $60 million in total guarantees.

At the time of the deal, it made Smith the highest-paid linebacker in the NFL.

“I’m excited about the matchup, for sure. I haven’t gotten a chance to play Chicago since I’ve been here,” Smith said Monday. “I’m grateful for all of my time in Chicago. A lot of amazing people over there that I have a tremendous amount of respect for.

“But you have to be the best version of yourself week in and week out, and it happens to be the Bears.”

Across five memorable seasons in Chicago, he played 69 games (67 starts) and tallied 607 tackles, 47 tackles for loss, 16 1/2 sacks, 20 passes defensed and seven interceptions.

But when the end of Smith’s rookie deal neared, Chicago balked at awarding him with an extension.

Instead, Bears general manager Ryan Poles dedicated those resources elsewhere, signing linebackers Tremaine Edmunds (four-year deal worth $72 million) and T.J. Edwards (three years, $19.5 million) the ensuing offseason.

Smith, 28, has maintained his high-road approach this week. But don’t forget three years ago, when his emotions were high and he said following the trade from Chicago to Baltimore: “Man, it makes me so happy just knowing my career is not going down the drain playing somewhere where I’m not truly competing for a title.”

Speaking of contending for a Lombardi Trophy, Baltimore’s season is truly on the brink. No team in modern NFL history has made the playoffs following a 1-6 start.

“It’s not about what’s happened in the past,” Smith said Monday. “It’s more so about what’s happening in the future. There have been many great stories, and there’s going to be another one coming soon, but obviously, it’s one game at a time, and it starts this [Sunday].”

Added defensive coordinator Zach Orr: “Roquan Smith — he’s obviously one of the best linebackers in football, and you cannot take that away from him. He’s done that consistently over his career. I thought that he was playing really good football for us before he had the injury. … He’s ready to roll. I know deep down, just knowing him, that he wants this one.”

Smith hasn’t slowed much since his arrival in Baltimore. Over three-plus seasons, he’s started all 45 games he’s appeared in, logging 432 tackles with five sacks, two forced fumbles, 15 passes defensed and three interceptions.

Smith’s season-high 14 tackles during Baltimore’s lone win over Cleveland in Week 2 served as a reminder of how dominant the eighth-year linebacker can be when he’s healthy and fully locked in as the “quarterback of the defense,” as he’s commonly referred to by teammates.

Three years ago, the Bears looked the other way while Baltimore invested in Smith to be the heartbeat of its defense.

In his expected return from his two-game absence, Smith now gets the chance to deliver another performance worthy of that label … and maybe remind Chicago what it gave up on.