Robert Quinn talks about Bears trade, Roquan Smith’s reaction

PHILADELPHIA – While there were always rumblings that it might happen, when it actually did, it caused a lot of gasps from around the National Football League, especially Halas Hall.

Even Robert Quinn was caught off guard when he found out on Wednesday that the Bears had traded him to the Eagles in exchange for a 2023 fourth round pick.

“Shock,” was what the defensive end said at his news conference in Philadelphia when asked about his reaction to his trade from Chicago. “I’m still trying to get a full grasp of what happened, the transition”

If he was stunned, so was one of his teammates in Chicago.

During his news conference on Wednesday, linebacker Roquan Smith got teary eyed when the news about Quinn’s trade broke, with the video clip spreading quickly on social media. The defensive end saw that and responded with high praise for his former teammate.

“That’s my guy. You could say like a little brother,” said Quinn. “Got there and we didn’t know each other, for whatever reason, we became pretty cool. Like I said, we became pretty tight as friends. To see that reaction, it really just shows the love that we have; to take a teammate and turn him into a brother.

“You don’t get to do that too often.”

As Quinn moves on from the Bears, he doesn’t harbor any ill will toward the franchise. Wednesday marked the third time that Quinn has been traded in the NFL, having been dealt from the Rams to the Dolphins in 2018 then from there to Dallas in 2019.

“Man, I loved my guys there,” said Quinn of the Bears. “The situation, I’ll be honest, wasn’t my first coaching change, so I kinda knew what was gonna go on. To be honest, I didn’t expect a trade, but knew how the building was going to shift around a little bit.”

Now Quinn will have to adjust quite a bit as he’s expected to take the field for the Eagles when they face the Steelers on Sunday night at Lincoln Financial Field. When he does, he’ll be with a championship contender as Philadelphia is the only unbeaten team in the NFL at 6-0.

“Like I told everyone, I just want to come in and do my part,” said Quinn. “They’ve been rocking and rolling before I got here so, again, don’t want to mess anything up. Just try to add whatever I can to make this team better.”