Fields For Peanuts
A 6th. That was it. A 6th that could become a 4th with unlikely to meet conditions. Yikes.
The Bears had a young QB who still has a ton of potential if you remove him from the mess that Chicago put him in. They had the #1 overall pick and a chance to start over with the best QB prospect in years. They could see who wanted him, and shop him to the entire league. All they got was Pittsburgh throwing a pity 6 for him to sit behind Russell Wilson for one year after Kenny Pickett threw a tantrum and demanded out. The conditional 6th rounder isn’t even for this upcoming draft but next year.
What happened? Does the league in general think that badly of Fields? Fields isn’t Zach Wilson, Fields has talent and potential. Was it the 5th year option and decision on payment offputting? Maybe, but you can’t tell me that he still isn’t worth a dice roll over Desmond Ridder or Sam Howell. The Jets got more for Sam Darnold when they traded him to Carolina. I guess maybe Carolina just gets fleeced by everyone. Fields would have been a great backup for Philly, why did the Eagles go for Kenny Pickett instead? Fields is better than Pickett and Philly paid more for the disgruntled tiny-handed Pitt boy than Pitt paid for Fields. The Cowboys paid more for Trey Lance! Remember Trey Lance? I assume he’s still alive though I don’t know for sure.
Maybe the truth is that Chicago didn’t have any real leverage because everyone knew Fields was available so nobody tried hard to get him. I’m personally kinda surprised the Vikings didn’t get him. Sam Darnold is not a long-term solution and the Vikings do not have a high enough draft pick to compete for one of the better prospects. Fields seemed like a decent stopgap for cheap there, but I guess not. Surely the Colts could use a backup that could operate a similar system to Richardson? Nope, Joe Flacco. The Jets? A mobile QB learning behind Rodgers would certainly be beneficial but nah, the Jets went Tyrod (which is a fine choice, btw). Fields felt like he could have gone to half the league if he was seen as backup caliber with long-term potential.
Several teams did indeed inquire about Fields but Chicago did Fields a solid by sending him to his preferred destination. That may be true, but it sounds like PR cover. I’d love to know which teams were in play here and I can’t imagine they made offers much better than the Steelers did. Fields has no ties to Pittsburgh as far as I can see so I’d also love to know why that was his “preferred” landing spot. There’s just no way to deny that a conditional 6th rounder (can become a 4th if he plays 51% of snaps) is simply much lower than the Bears probably could have gotten.
Well, I guess welcome to the Caleb Williams era!
“Fields has no ties to Pittsburgh as far as I can see so I’d also love to know why that was his “preferred” landing spot.”
1. Wilson was apparently his role model player growing up. Being on the same team as him probably means something to him.
2. Players love Tomlin, as a general rule. Being able to play under him is another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Overall, this is the one move made by the Steelers FO this off season I actually dislike. I’m not the happiest trading Pickett in itself, but I also understand you got to get rid of him if he’s being a locker room malcontent. I think Pickett had potential still, but I want volunteers, not hostages. But Fields feels like a step back. Their stats are relatively comparable to each other… until you see the horrendous INT and Fumble rate that Fields has. Pickett arguably has better passing stats to boot (higher completion and yards per game), and whilst Fields comes with a rushing game… I’d rather not give up the ball like every other drive either. Fields, to me, was already a certified bust, and I hated this move as a result. Even for a conditional sixth, I would prefer that sixth round pick. At least you *might* get a NFL caliber player out of it. Yeesh.
Still, at least Khan realized that the offense we had up to this point wasn’t working, and tore the rotten structure up completely. Even if I don’t agree with the last move, I’m at least happy it’s getting addressed. Colbert would have continued to bash his head against the wall over and over again and nothing would have improved. That being said… we really couldn’t have just tried to pick up Penix or something?
I think you’re being overwhelmingly generous to kenny and wildly unfair to fields. Fields had a pace of over 3k yards, 20 passing tuds and close to 1k yards on the ground this past season. Sure, we can sit here and blame a lot of things for kenny’s overall disappointment (canada, meddling oline play, canada, unimpressive wr room, canada, etc.) but I don’t think it’s fair to say that justin had it that much better in chicago. It’s very unlikely that he moves the needle going into next season, but given some time with a HOF caliber mentor qb, a quality head coach, and other young talent to grow and develop with, I feel like there’s a very good chance that this will work out in the end. And I do believe fields has way more upside than kenny too. Pickett was the first qb off the board because he was part of a generationally poor qb draft class. Rank him in 2024 and he’d barely be within the first 10.
That being said, you seriously wouldn’t even give up a sixth? A sixth for a qb with that kind of upside? Ridiculous would be a major understatement
Additionally, I think you could argue that Fields edge over Pickett as a rushing QB should be less of a factor in Pittsburgh now that Canada is gone and Smith in theory should be able to use Harris and Ward (and to a lesser extent Freiermuth) better. Of course that’s assuming you get the Smith that used Henry well as Titans OC and not Falcons Head Coach Smith.
I cannot believe you think Fields isn’t even an NFL calibre player. Dude’s floor is a high-end backup and he’s still young. A high end backup is what you’d hope to get out of a 6th round pick
Huh, kind of weird to think Russell Wilson has been around long enough for current NFL players to have come up watching him as kids. I remember watching him in his rookie season, doesn’t seem that long ago.
Wilson has been in the league for 12 years already, and is 9 years older than Fields. Wilson’s earliest years in college/NFL would have have been junior high and high school for Fields.
Maybe Fields isn’t that good?
We’re talking about a guy who was outproduced by Trubisky but somehow Trubisky is rightfully recognized as a bust but Fields gets an endless line of excuses. Don’t know if it’s fantasy, Ohio State fans, or the media not letting go of pre-draft perception but for some reason, it’s never Fields’ fault.
Also, Howell flashed a lot more as a passer in 1 year than Fields in 3 years and has an extra deal on his rookie deal so I don’t know why Fields should be valued more.
Just because he’s bad doesn’t excuse that the Bears could’ve gotten more for him
This is exactly my take too lol. If Fields was actually good, we’d see a market for him. He’s not. Pickett had the excuse of Canada, who legitimately, no exaggeration, might have been the worst OC of this century so far. No QB under his system looked good; I’d even argue Roethlisberger wasn’t as cooked as people made him out to be, because he was doing actually pretty decent play in two minutes drills and other situations where he was calling plays. I remember Trubisky looking decent as Allen’s backup and initially being excited for that hire. Hell, even Pittsburgh perennial punching bag Rudolph looked so much better last season after he was fired. QBs legitimately were just set up to fail in that high school-ass system. There is nothing Fields had in Chicago that even begun to compare to that ineptitude. And even then, Pickett still looked better than Fields, at least imo. Fields just ain’t it. I hope I’m proven wrong, because he’s as of now our mid term future, but I don’t like the move and I’m standing by that.
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But that’s the thing, QBs always have a market. Lots of QBs who are bad still got picked up. Darnold, Ridder, Lock, Trey Lance, all got picked for more. Fields might be bad (I think he’s a bust) but this was a mistake by the Bears, they could have gotten more
I wouldn’t think that Justin Fields could necessarily be considered better than Sam Darnold, Darnold is only a year older and has two more years of experience, and is more experienced with bad weapons and has been posting similar stats with worse WR’s and Coaches. The only Person you listed that was worse then fields and was traded for more was Desmond Ridder. Considering that Ridder was at best a mediocre for a backup and Moore was a 23 year old stud who was averaging 43 yards per game started and was seemingly the Cardinals #1 WR after Marquise Brown left.( I still that this trade was a fleecing). Overall Justin fields was not the player that the Jets completely brainfarted on drafting.(I’m not saying Zach Wilson was the right pick, I think that the Jets should have picked Ja’Marr chase).
Trey Lance wasn’t better than Fields, he didn’t even play 2 games and he got a 4th early last year.
Pickett is at best on par with Fields and got more in return.
Darnold/Lock, etc might be slightly better than Fields but they were also more expensive to sign in the first place to do basically the same roll of be a backup. The Bears could have gotten better for Fields, thats the point here, and it remains true
As a 49’ers fan who was denying at first that Lance was a bust I can see where the Cowboys are coming from though, as Dak is 30 and not getting younger and Trey Lance is 23 and the Cowboys might be just delusional enough to think he could be something.(while writing my comment I overlooked Pickett but still have an opinion.) Pickett seems to be in the same realm as Fields was as having a bad situation and was traded with a fourth round pick for two 7ths and a third which is seemingly more then fields but isn’t exponentially more. Darnold was as I stated better than Fields and was signed to 10 million dollars and Drew Lock for 5 million dollars, While Fields is 3.25 million right now, His fifth year option is 25 million (which also though doesnt look to be picked up) meaning if the Steelers want to resign him they might have to go through some theatrics meaning all they got was basically a 1 year rental). Sorry for writing a Novel btw
A rumor I heard was that Philadelphia originally offered Chicago what they traded to get Pickett. Chicago wanted to do Fields a solid (why?) so they traded him for less to a spot where he has a more realistic shot at playing time.
Just something I heard. If I had to guess, I’d say they were still holding out for more, and didn’t expect Philly to pivot so quickly.
The fact that a team that started Kenny Pickett/Mitchell Trubisky for the majority of a season only needed a conditional 6th round pick to snag Justin Fields is telling. His market must have been terrible and I find it hard to believe that they rejected better offers to do Fields a solid. The Steelers had every reason to be in desperation mode when looking for a QB and you couldn’t squeeze more out of them? Yikes lol.
Free qb also a request for the coming season could you do for one bet if the titans win draw five of their players as the teen titans also comic about full faith in Pickett to him getting traded?
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Lot of people in Minnesota surprised we didn’t get Fields either. A few thoughts:
1) Why would the Bears want to trade him to an in-division rival? Vikings likely would have had to pay a tax to get him and that’s if Chicago even wants to make that deal. I don’t know that given what we’ve seen from Fields he’s worth that tax. You also have to question, if the Bears ARE willing to trade him in-division….what does that say about their estimation of his talent? Admittedly, that’s reaching a bit, but something I ask myself regardless.
2) If Sam Darnold is not a long term answer….is Fields really that much different? You’re taking a flier on a flameout and hoping you can get enough Baker-esque magic to be competent while you prepare a new young QB prospect (which they now have the capital to get after trading with Houston). If Fields is halfway decent, you’re going to have to pay him to stick around and I don’t think that’s the plan here in MSP.
3) The Vikings have experience with a running QB who struggles to complete 60% of his passes….his name was Josh Dobbs. He was a really nice story for two weeks and then the wheels fell off. While there’s clearly talent with Fields, and I think he’d be better on literally any other team aside from the Bears, I just don’t see him being good enough to make a difference.
I hope he’s great in PIT, and I hope whoever the Bears draft is bad.
I feel sorry for Fields getting so overlooked because the 2023 Bears remind me so much of the 2021 Lions. The Lions had an awful season their first year with Goff, ending 3-13-1. However, if you look at the scores of each game, there were so many that had no business being close that the Lions nearly won. They nearly had all the pieces together and if they did well in the off-season, they could be a powerhouse. 2022 was their first winning season in ages and 2023 they broke their playoff drought.
The Bears have been having awful seasons since 2018 when Nagy managed to bring the Bears to the playoffs. Last year they managed to have a 7-10 season with a whole bunch of games that nearly turned into wins in the second half of the season that had no reason to be that close. The Bears were starting to put things together, but were in a tough division and the four losses at the start of the season were insurmountable. You could see the light at the end of the tunnel if the Bears kept putting stuff together. I don’t know if the Bears are making the right moves or blowing things up prematurely, but I feel like Fields is a lot better than people give him credit. If people stopped evaluating the Lions in 2021, it would be fair to view Goff as a total bust even though he had taken the Rams to the SuperBowl in 2018. I wonder if Fields will get a similar redemption arc or if he was the factor holding back the Bears.
Did any of us think that the double doink would have been the door slamming shut on that incredible Bears defense? I knew Trubisky wasn’t the answer, but it’s surprising how quickly the rest of it fell apart just in time for them to bring in a new QB prospect.
great defense usually falls apart pretty quickly, or at least seems more prone to. Probably because a superstar defender still doesn’t have the same impact on the field an elite QB can over a long period of time
This is true, and expanding on your point, I think the greatest D in the world is still, ultimately, a reactive force, and not a proactive one. A QB touches the ball on (just about) every single offensive snap, and (outside of surprises like sacks or fumbles) gets to decide the initial course of action. But the defense doesn’t dictate terms, so it’s harder to proactively replicate the conditions, such as favorable physics, that make them successful year after year.
You can have the greatest ball hawk in the world, but if the opposing QB keeps throwing it somewhere else, he’s not getting INTs. You can have the greatest pass rush in the world, but if the opposing QBs are able to get it off quickly, you’re not getting sacks. And when your D has a breakout season doing X, the following season all of the decent-to-good teams you face are going to do their darnedest to explicitly keep you from doing X.
I still think the Bears should have kept Fields as the backup. Not only do you create a competition in the early season for the starting role, but Fields value would increase mid-season once a QB1 goes down for the season.
I think it’s very funny that the Steelers brought in Fields to be understudy (presumably) to a guy who shares all of his bad habits.
someone on another site pointed out that Fields has now replaced Trubisky twice, and I think that’s hilarious
The Vikings recently traded for number 23 overall and Kwesi has even hinted himself that it will be used as bait with 11 to trade up for one of those top prospects. Nobody here in Minnesota wanted him. He is a very inaccurate passer and we saw that playing him twice a season.
As the President of the United States of Abearica, the only positive out of this is that Fields has a chance to make an impression outside of the Bears organization. He’s a reclamation project, not an automatic day 1 starter. The Bears got return on that value and not these pie-in-the-sky estimates that fans held onto for too long.
I would like to believe Caleb Williams is the one and only, but even I expect the Bears to fuck the pick up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a liver to pulverize into ebola.