The feeling among NFL teams is that Justin Fields has played his final game with the Chicago Bears as they prepare to make the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL draft this spring.
Per The Athletic’s Dane Brugler, “teams believe” the Bears will use that pick to select a quarterback and trade Fields.
Brugler has the Bears taking Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall after the USC star officially declared for the draft on Monday.
Trading Fields has felt like the most-likely scenario in this situation, but he has made things more difficult for general manager Ryan Poles by playing well during the 2023 season.
Fields set career-highs in completion percentage (61.4) and passing yards (2,562) in 13 starts. He also ran for 657 yards and four touchdowns.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on Saturday that Fields has “made the decision very difficult” for Chicago’s front office with his play, “particularly down the stretch.”
In the final seven games of the season after returning from a dislocated shoulder and thumb, Fields threw for 1,361 yards, ran for 420 yards and accounted for eight touchdowns.
The Bears went 4-3 during that stretch.
Bears wide receiver DJ Moore publicly endorsed Fields to be Chicago’s quarterback.
There are good arguments on both sides, but the Bears have to weigh how much they value the pockets of good performance from Fields vs. the overall three-year sample size he’s produced.
Compounding the problem in favor of keeping Fields is he’s about to get a lot more expensive.
Next season is the final guaranteed season of his rookie contract with a $6 million cap hit, though the Bears have until May to pick up his fifth-year option for 2025.
This is also the first off-season that Fields is eligible to sign a long-term contract extension. Some projections have him earning $41.2 million per season on a new deal.
If the Bears decide to stick with Fields, they would almost certainly be able to land a huge return for the No. 1 pick because of how well regarded Williams and Drake Maye are as prospects.
From a Business standpoint, though, it makes perfect sense for the Bears to get what they can in a trade for Fields and reset the quarterback contract clock by taking one of the two highly-touted prospects with the top pick in the draft.
