The Chicago Bears’ quarterback Justin Fields may be on the outs after three up-and-down seasons with the team.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are in desperate need of a steady, high-end QB to lead the offense after Kenny Pickett, selected with the team’s 20th overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, has failed to dazzle.
So, does this make the Bears and the Steelers a draft trade match made in heaven?
According to Parker Abate of Steelernation.com, the answer is “yes, of course.”
“It’s fair to say that the Chicago Bears stink,” Abate recently opined. “They have managed to win five games in 2023, but currently have the Carolina Panthers’ first-round pick due to a trade that the two teams made that allowed Carolina to select Bryce Young first overall in the 2023 NFL Draft…Ezoic
It’s hard to imagine that the Bears would pass up on a prospect like Williams, which then begs the question: what happens to Justin Fields? The third-year player out of Ohio State hasn’t gotten a fair shake in Chicago. It would be wise for the Bears to trade him in 2024 while he still has value…
Pittsburgh enters Week 16 with a hobbled Pickett, a lost Mitch Trubisky, and a painfully average Mason Rudolph. Franchises need a dude at quarterback to be successful at the professional level and the Steelers don’t possess that at this juncture. Losing out and ending up at 7-10 could lead to a top 10 pick, but barring a trade up, wouldn’t be enough for one of the top two prospects. Trading a second-round pick for Fields has to be in the discussion.”
The pro-Steelers Abate is not the only one who sees dealing Fields as a no-brainer.
Trading Fields Makes Business Sense
Former Bears tight end Greg Olsen feels that, for the Bears, trading Fields away is just plain common business sense.Ezoic
“No knock on Fields at all,” Olsen recently wrote via social media. “Let’s assume the top QB in [the] draft and Fields are exactly the same now and in the future. The tiebreaker goes to starting the clock over before having to pay the QB $50m. Once QB gets paid, he better be able to cover up the holes. Most can’t. The elite can.”
So, Olsen’s assumption is that if favored top QB draft pick Caleb Williams can, minimally, do just as well as Fields at QB, then the deciding factor will be the money saved by going with the rookie. For the record, he isn’t the only one with this feeling on the Bears’ need to trade Fields.Ezoic
Bears Players Support Fields
Fields’ current teammates don’t seem to agree with Olsen’s “common sense” opinion.
“Justin is the quarterback of the future,” wide receiver Darnell Mooney said after Sunday’s 20-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns. “He’s the franchise quarterback. He’s been balling. I don’t understand why it’s anymore questions. Obviously, we have the [projected No. 1 pick] because of Carolina right now, but Justin is a dog. If he’s not here, he’ll be somewhere else balling. I’m not the guy that makes those decisions, but Justin is dog. Wherever he may be, if it’s not here, he’s still going to ball.”
Wide receiver DJ Moore, who has built an off-field rapport with Fields that has translated into outstanding field chemistry, has gone on record numerous times with his feeling that team needs to stay the course at quarterback.
“I don’t know,” Moore told media when asked why Fields’ future was in doubt in Chicago. “Ya’ll asked me that last week. I’m still like, ‘Bruh, where are ya’ll seeing this? What makes him not the franchise quarterback for the Chicago Bears right now?’Ezoic
“I get ya’ll got everybody coming out. What, there’s like two of them? I don’t think [Caleb Williams and Drake Maye] are better than Justin.”
Fields, himself, has been asked by outside-of-Chicago media about why his future is in doubt with the team. The 24-year-old insists that he’s still only focused on what he was hired to do.
“People question a lot of stuff. That’s not my problem,” Fields told Cleveland media members. “I just come to work, do my job as best as I can. That’s it.”Ezoic
For now any trade speculation is just that– speculation. Even if it makes “sense.”
