Bears coordinator Vic Fangio: ‘I have confidence’ in rookie LB Roquan Smith

Like coach Matt Nagy did one day earlier, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio hinted that first-round pick Roquan Smith would play more in Week 2. The linebacker, who first felt hamstring tightness in his second practice after returning from a 29-day contract standoff, played eight snaps against the Packers.

“I have confidence in him, as far as being able to know what to do,” Fangio said. “Again, I think the thing that gets lost with all these players is he was here in all the OTAs and the mini-camps …

“He did a good job learning our system in that time. And then when he eventually got back.”

Fangio said the hamstring made Smith’s circumstances different than those of outside linebacker Khalil Mack, who played 42 snaps after missing all of training camp during his Raiders holdout.

Smith is not on the injury report.

“His situation was different than Khalil’s last week in that he was still nursing an injury,” Fangio said. “Khalil was just fighting newness and not playing. So we were a little cautious on that.”