Brian Urlacher: Bears trading Roquan Smith ‘drives me crazy’

PHOENIX — Brian Urlacher wouldn’t want to be in Bears general manager Ryan Poles’ shoes this offseason.

“It’s not a position I would want to be in,” Urlacher, the Bears’ Hall of Fame linebacker, told the Sun-Times on Thursday. “I’m sure they don’t want to be in that position, either. No one wants the No. 1 pick — it means you had a [crappy] season.

“There’s going to be a player there that can probably help them a whole lot, or you trade it and get a lot. My thing is if you trade it … People think that if you trade it and get a ton of picks ... that doesn’t mean those picks are going to be good.”

Urlacher, who was on Super Bowl radio row stumping for the U.S. Border Patrol Mental Health Initiative, singled out one prospect he’d want the Bears to draft: Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson.

“You need help on defense,” he said.

He’s still annoyed that Poles traded another off-ball linebacker, Roquan Smith, to the Ravens in October. Smith was named to his first Pro Bowl and signed the contract extension he’d once sought from Poles.

“Roquan was good — we got him in the first round,” he said. “Traded him. That drives me crazy, still.”