Column: Do new deals for ‘hold-ins’ DK Metcalf and Deebo Samuel bode well for Roquan Smith and the Chicago Bears? It’s hard to say.

DK Metcalf and Deebo Samuel opened training camp as “hold-ins” — reporting to camp but not participating until they landed new contracts — and the strategy quickly produced a massive pay raise for each.

The terms were similar for the two wide receivers, who could have become free agents next March. Metcalf received a three-year, $72 million extension from the Seattle Seahawks with $58.2 million guaranteed, while Samuel got $71.55 million over three years from the San Francisco 49ers with $58.1 million guaranteed.

Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James is another “hold-in,” and NFL Media has reported a new deal is expected for him any day.

It would be nice to believe efficient business for Metcalf and Samuel means things will move along swimmingly for linebacker Roquan Smith and the Chicago Bears as they work toward a new contract. But general manager Ryan Poles made things as murky as possible on reporting day last week, and then the team placed Smith on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list, making him off limits to media.

Even if Smith would like to lay out his side of the story, that won’t happen while he begins most practices on a stationary bike and then monitors drills from a close distance.

“Yeah, I’m not in the middle of that,” coach Matt Eberflus said after practice Monday when I asked if there had been any progress with Smith. “I really can’t say there’s progress (or) not progress. That’s Ryan and him working together.

“I just feel that he’s being a professional. He’s in the meetings and he’s doing a good job with helping the younger players. Again, he’s still on PUP, so …”

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So the Bears will continue to practice a new defensive scheme with a new coaching staff without their best defensive player. The team will practice in full pads for the first time Tuesday and Wednesday.

A hold-in didn’t slow Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt last season, when he waited until September to get a new contract before winning Defensive Player of the Year honors with a career-high 22½ sacks. Smith missed about four weeks when he held out as a rookie, and that didn’t adversely affect his season.

Making matters more delicate or complex, depending on how you look at it, is that Smith is operating without an agent. That makes the back and forth of typical negotiations challenging while the Bears use Matthew Adams and Joe Thomas on the first-team defense with middle linebacker Nicholas Morrow.

Smith is moving to a position that should highlight his abilities, the one where Lance Briggs became a star for the Bears. The weak-side position in a 4-3 defense is more of a scrape-and-fold player than the middle linebacker in a 3-4. Smith is a great fit because he is a run-and-hit player who performs well in space and has pretty good instincts. He will be able to utilize his lateral ability and open-field speed and be schemed up on blitzes.

He will be seeing the field from a different angle, though, and while he was present during spring drills, he needs reps in pads, not in a T-shirt and shorts. In the old NFL, the preseason would have been influential for Smith as he gets accustomed to a different alignment, angles to the football, responsibilities and terminology communicating with teammates.

For an experienced veteran, it shouldn’t be a long transition, but you’re kidding yourself if you say there’s no transition.

“When you’re in the middle, this is kind of your view,” defensive coordinator Alan Williams said, holding his arms out wide, “and things can come from both sides. When you’re on the outside, this is your view (holding his arms to show half the space) and things usually come from the inside out, so that’s probably the major difference. Our (middle) linebacker has most of (what) we would say front-row views.”

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Williams said the weak-side linebacker has more “side balcony views,” another description of the ongoing transition.

“When he gets off of PUP — and he’s working with Ryan to get that done — we’ll see what happens and it’s day by day,” Williams said. “And when it happens, we’ll make our adjustment and plug and play. The big thing while he’s on PUP is to do a good job to stay in it mentally, which he’s doing.”

Smith hasn’t missed a practice in pads yet and the season is more than five weeks away, so this isn’t alarming. But the Bears will have a difficult time claiming training camp was a success if they can’t get their best defensive player on the field.

And at this point, the coaches say Smith is working with the GM — not the trainer — to get off the PUP list.