LAKE FOREST Chicago Bears Jerseys Stitched , Ill. (AP)and Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs. The Georgia standout hopes to add his name to the list of great Chicago linebackers.The Bears drafted Smith with the No. 8 overall pick Thursday night, adding a potential cornerstone player on defense rather than another offensive weapon for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.The Bears have spent the offseason collecting pieces they believe will help Trubisky develop into a franchise quarterback. But when Indianapolis took Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson with the sixth pick, it seemed apparent Chicago would address the defense.”What they can expect from me when I arrive is a relentless guy on the field and off the field, going about my business the right way and going to do whatever it takes to put the Bears in the best possible situation every time I step on to the field,” smith said. ”And I’m beyond excited, I can’t put it into words how excited I am about this opportunity to be a Chicago Bear. It’s insane and I’m ready to give the city of Chicago everything I have in me.”Smith joins a team with four straight last-place finishes in the NFC North and just one playoff appearance since the 2006 team’s run to the Super Bowl. The Monsters of the Midway haven’t finished with a winning record since 2012, Lovie Smith’s last season as coach.That’s something they hope Smith will help change.An All-American and Butkus Award winner as college football’s best linebacker, he led Georgia to the national championship game last season. Though he is a bit undersized at 6-foot-1, 236 pounds, he has speed and athleticism and the coverage skills to stay on the field in passing situations. His leadership is also a plus.Smith figures to line up inside for the Bears. He’ll also be reunited with another Bulldog in outside linebacker Leonard Floyd, drafted by Chicago with the No. 9 pick in 2016.Smith said he ”looked up to the guy a lot” and is eager to play with him.”It’s insane. I’m excited,” he said.Bears general manager Ryan Pace used the phrase ”fired up” three times in his opening remarks about Smith. He later used it to describe defensive coordinator Vic Fangio Womens Kerrith Whyte Jersey , too, and again when addressing the Bears’ positioning for the second day.Fangio came into the media room prior to the draft to tell reporters he shot a hole-in-one earlier with a 9-iron from 125 yards on the fourth hole at Strawberry Creek in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His day got even better when the Bears grabbed one of the top defensive players in the draft.”Every game you watch, this guy’s flying around, making plays, you just can’t help . I think in today’s NFL, the linebackers are becoming more and more of this,” Pace said. ”Sometimes you might sacrifice a little bit of size to gain a lot of athleticism and a lot of speed, and Roquan definitely has that.”Pace said there weren’t many calls looking to move up from teams needing a quarterback. He said he wasn’t interesting in trading the pick, anyway, once it became clear Smith would be there for them. Pace did acknowledge the Bears tried to add a late first-rounder.Chicago has one second-round pick, two fourth-rounders and one each in the fifth, sixth and seventh. The Bears don’t have a third-round selection.The Bears fired John Fox after three seasons and replaced him with an offensive-minded coach in Matt Nagy Kerrith Whyte Jersey 2019 , who spent the past 10 years working on Andy Reid’s staffs in Philadelphia and Kansas City. They also gave Trubisky some new targets, most notably signing former Pro Bowl receiver Allen Robinson.The Bears were still looking to boost a rather effective defense. Chicago ranked 10th overall last season despite injuries to several key players, including Floyd, and tied for seventh in the NFL with 42 sacks last season. But the Bears let linebackers Jerrell Freeman, Pernell McPhee and Willie Young go.Smith is looking forward to playing for Fangio, who in three seasons has helped transform a defense that ranked among the worst in franchise history. Fangio’s predecessor was Mel Tucker, Georgia’s defensive coordinator.Smith called Tucker a ”great guy” who taught him ”a lot of things.” But Fangio has ”coached a lot of legends,” including similarly sized linebackers NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis in San Francisco.”I feel like those guys, we’re all different in our own way, especially in being very unique. I feel like me, I feel like me and Patrick Willis both have similar speed and whatnot and both have a high IQ of the game.”— TAMPA, Fla. (AP)The Tampa Bay Buccaneers hope they’ve solved their kicking woes.Again.Free agent Chandler Catanzaro becomes the latest kicker to get an opportunity to stop a seemingly never-ending carousel of potential solutions, finalizing a three-year White Kerrith Whyte Jersey , $9.75 million contract on Friday.The Bucs also formally announced the signing of veteran defensive lineman Mitch Unrein, who got a three-year, $10.5 million deal after spending most of the past three seasons with the Chicago Bears.Catanzaro, meanwhile, has also kicked for the Arizona Cardinals and New York Jets during a four-year career. He’s converted 84.4 percent of his field goal attempts. Since entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2014, he ranks eighth in the league with 103 made field goals and seventh with 461 points scored.”I looking forward to taking advantage of the opportunity and just doing what I have the past four years,” said Catanzaro, who spent three seasons with the Cardinals for moving to the Jets in 2017. ”I think I’ve proven I belong. I think my career stats say that.”The Bucs have been searching for some stability at the position since 2013. The team has used six different kickers over the past five seasons, including second-round draft pick Roberto Aguayo in 2016 and Nick Folk and Patrick Murray a year ago.The hope is the strong-legged Catanzaro not only will be dependable on field goals and extra points, but improve the team’s kickoffs as well. The 27-year-old had a 67.2 touchback percentage on kickoffs with the Jets, seventh-best in the NFL.The fifth-year pro made 25 of 30 field goals and was 29 of 29 on extra points in 2017.Since Connor Barth handled Tampa Bay’s place-kicking duties from 2009 to 2012, the Bucs haven’t had a player hold the job for consecutive seasons.Murray served separate stints in 2014 and 2017, and Barth returned for a second stint in 2015 before general manager Jason Licht surprisingly traded up to select Aguayo in the second round of the 2016 draft.Folk was signed in free agency last winter to replace an inconsistent Aguayo. He struggled Dick Butkus Jerseys Stitched , too, before spending much of last season on injured reserve. Murray returned for his second stint with mixed results, especially on kickoffs.Catanzaro said he’s ”definitely aware” of Tampa Bay’s kicking woes, but noted: ”I wasn’t here during that time, so I’m looking forward to doing my thing this season.””I’m never complacent,” he added. ”I’m always looking to get better.”Unrein spent four seasons with the Denver Broncos from 2011 to 2014. The following year, he played two games for the San Diego Chargers before being released and signing with the Bears.In 95 career games, including 24 starts, Unrein has 4 1/2 sacks and one fumble recovery.The 30-year-old is the second defensive lineman the Bucs have signed in free agency this week, joining former Eagles tackle Beau Allen.—