The sports world now seems convinced Justin Fields is not starter material. Either the price for Fields is deemed too high or teams in general just don’t think he is worth giving up draft assets for. If you’re like me, you think something else must be going on. An athlete of Field’s caliber has value in the NFL.
Every time a quarterback is signed out of free agency or is traded for, the common reaction I have been seeing is “Even (insert quarterback name) is more valuable than Fields.” It appears that many think each time there is a quarterback signed, that closes an option for a Fields deal. The truth is many of the quarterbacks being signed or traded for are for backup roles.
With this being said, I believe it is very possible the Bears already have a preliminary deal in place to either trade Fields, or trade out of the number one pick. I think the most likely trade partner in this scenario is the Washington Commanders, who hold the number 2 pick in the NFL Draft.
In this scenario, the Bears and Commanders have worked out a deal that would either:
1. Trade Fields to Washington in exchange for player/draft pick compensation that’s already been agreed to.
If the Bears decide to draft Caleb Williams and trade Fields to the Commanders, this would allow the Commanders to fill their quarterback need and select Marvin Harrison Jr. with their pick at 2, taking who many believe is the best player available in the draft.
2. Trade the number 1 pick to Washington in exchange for player/draft pick compensation that’s already been agreed to.
If the Bears decide against drafting Caleb Williams, this allows them to trade the number 1 pick to the Commanders, who would likely be ecstatic to select Williams who grew up in the DC area.
The fact that the Commanders just signed Marcus Mariota could point to them going in 1 of three directions – trading for Fields, drafting Williams, or drafting Jayden Daniels if they were to stay at 2 and not trade for Fields. All three of these quarterbacks presumably play the same style that Mariota plays.
You may be asking what the Bears would do if they trade back to pick 2 and still want to draft a new quarterback. They would essentially have the same problem of having a rookie quarterback and needing to find a trade partner for Fields.
In this scenario, I believe the Bears may have also spoken to the Patriots about the possibility of Chicago trading back to pick 2 to gauge the Patriot’s interest in trading for Fields, which would allow the Patriots to fill their quarterback need and select Marvin Harrison Jr at pick 3.
If you are thinking this is far-fetched and conversations like this do not happen, I can almost guarantee they do. Just last year the Bears had discussed trading back to pick 2 with the Texans and then trading back again with the Panthers. This double trade was reportedly discussed at the Combine before the Texans backed out and Chicago and Carolina worked a trade between themselves.
The speculation on what is going on behind the scenes continues to run rampant, which is a testament to how tight-lipped Poles and his team have been. Everyone, including many insiders, seems to be grasping at straws trying to figure out what is going on with Fields, but I think Poles’ sole focus is getting this decision right, and keeping a lid on his process.
