Bears: 1st pick in 23 draft

[waffle]

he was a heck of a qb at OSU. I don't think he's worse now. Playing in something that resembles a NFL ready offense sure can't hurt

[Susan]

I have doubts abouts Fields ability to develop long-term. If you were ever considering trading him his value will never be higher than it is right now.

As a non-Bears fan, I'd be really, really nervous about putting my eggs in the basket of a guy who just had a 7-21 game at the end of his 2nd season.

I agree with this... But if you trade him and he performs elsewhere, that's the kind of thing that will get you fired. There's more job security keeping than trading.

His value sky rockets when you give him a steady OL and DeAndre Hopkins and he takes the next logical step.

Justin Fields isn't some mirage. He has been a hyper elite prospect since he was 17 years old. He got into Harvard, he routinely outperformed Trevor Lawrence who was the next prodigy, he runs sub 4.4 in the 40 and he's by all accounts a really good dude who works really hard and is the leader of this franchise.

The ceiling does not exist for him.

[TheStig]

To me, feels like the best case scenario is that Houston desperately wants the guy at #1 and is scared someone jumps them, then trades us #2 + #12 + other stuff for #1. Then, one of the other QB needy teams is also in love with the 2nd QB and is willing to give up a ton of assets to get to #2.

If Houston is ambivalent towards the two choices at QB, shrugs their shoulders and just takes whoever is left then that option is off the table, but if it works out, you could effectively get two massive hauls of draft capital, maybe something like 7-8 1st/2nd round picks combined.

It'll be interesting to see if they feel Fields can lead then and be a passer. They could trade Fields for a good return too and then sign a guy like Carr with all their cap space and reload everywhere else with picks and Fa's.

I think they're high on Fields but it'd be interesting with the talent available. Even Rodgers might be available.

[jnrjr79]

As a non-Bears fan, I'd be really, really nervous about putting my eggs in the basket of a guy who just had a 7-21 game at the end of his 2nd season.

I agree with this... But if you trade him and he performs elsewhere, that's the kind of thing that will get you fired. There's more job security keeping than trading.

His value sky rockets when you give him a steady OL and DeAndre Hopkins and he takes the next logical step.

Justin Fields isn't some mirage. He has been a hyper elite prospect since he was 17 years old. He got into Harvard, he routinely outperformed Trevor Lawrence who was the next prodigy, he runs sub 4.4 in the 40 and he's by all accounts a really good dude who works really hard and is the leader of this franchise.

The ceiling does not exist for him.

To me, all you have to do is look at Tua to see what an OL and WR corps might do for Justin. IMO, he looked less promising in his first two seasons than Fields does, but then they upgraded the line and got him legit receivers, et voilà, he looks great this year. The Bears at least owe it to themselves to see what the Justin Fields + a line + actual wideouts version of the offense looks like.

[dougthonus]

It'll be interesting to see if they feel Fields can lead then and be a passer. They could trade Fields for a good return too and then sign a guy like Carr with all their cap space and reload everywhere else with picks and Fa's.

I think they're high on Fields but it'd be interesting with the talent available. Even Rodgers might be available.

An interesting thing about that is there is probably no meaningful way to test the market on that without pissing Fields off and possibly damaging the relationship permanently. I think you do your eval on the QBs available, and if you think one is better than Fields, you then look to trade Fields, but you make the decision to be all in on the trade first.

I think the public outcry would be too great to consider it though unless they were extraordinarily confident in the decision. If you were like 55/45, and you know you will be lambasted if you guess wrong on a new QB but won't get lambasted if you stick with Fields, then you just stick with Fields even if he's on the 45. If you are 80/20, then making the right decision is more important than the PR.

[MissileMike]

As a non-Bears fan, I'd be really, really nervous about putting my eggs in the basket of a guy who just had a 7-21 game at the end of his 2nd season.

I agree with this... But if you trade him and he performs elsewhere, that's the kind of thing that will get you fired. There's more job security keeping than trading.

His value sky rockets when you give him a steady OL and DeAndre Hopkins and he takes the next logical step.

Justin Fields isn't some mirage. He has been a hyper elite prospect since he was 17 years old. He got into Harvard, he routinely outperformed Trevor Lawrence who was the next prodigy, he runs sub 4.4 in the 40 and he's by all accounts a really good dude who works really hard and is the leader of this franchise.

The ceiling does not exist for him.

I agree on all those counts (except he didn't "get into" harvard- that was for football)
But sure, I agree his attitude, work ethic, and overall intelligence are great for an NFL quarterback.
But I still see those missed throws and poor decisions.

Edit: I do think they can be corrected, but it's not a foregone conclusion.

[Dresden]

I have doubts abouts Fields ability to develop long-term. If you were ever considering trading him his value will never be higher than it is right now.

You don't know what his trajectory may be. He could get traded and lead a team to a super bowl, in which case I think his value would then be higher. It's just a lot of guessing, and the Bears staff, who has seen him day in and day out in practice, knows him better than anyone, so we just have to hope they make the correct choice.

I also think teams would covet the #1 pick more than they do Justin Fields. So we would have more draft picks by trading the pick than we would trading Justin.

[Dresden]

he was a heck of a qb at OSU. I don't think he's worse now. Playing in something that resembles a NFL ready offense sure can't hurt

On the flipside, he did drop all the way to #11 in the draft, which is pretty low for a QB teams look at as a franchise player. What about his career at OSU made teams pass on him?

[Dresden]

I think it's about 50/50 as to who has the better career- Justin or Bryce Young. Maybe even 40/60 in favor of Young. But I don't think that's enough for the Bears to make the switch. for one thing, you'd get more for that #1 pick than you would for Justin right now, maybe a lot more. So you'd be paying a price for making the switch, which pretty much evens up the odds.

Secondly, Justin knows the system and the guys. Thirdly, it would just be a very difficult thing to do- how do you go about opening trade talks without letting teams know you have doubts about Fields? And having that get leaked? And fourth, I think it's just too risky if it does backfire. If you stick with Justin and he doesn't work out, no one is going to blame you nearly as much as they will if you trade Justin, and he ends up being an MVP type player on another team, and your QB gets hurt or is ineffective. Then you really are wearing the goat horns for a long, long time. Maybe not as bad as BOS trading Babe Ruth, or POR taking Sam Bowie, but still pretty hard thing to live with.

They just need to have faith in Justin, and do everything possible to put him in a position to succeed next year and beyond.

That said, if they did go with Bryce Young, I would not feel that bad about it either. I'd be excited about what he could do for the franchise as well.

[Bandit King]

Poles been testing Fields all season but as much they love his running ability you can't sit there and say they are happy with his passing abilities.

Fields is the ryan pace pick and poles may want *his guy.

[TheStig]

It'll be interesting to see if they feel Fields can lead then and be a passer. They could trade Fields for a good return too and then sign a guy like Carr with all their cap space and reload everywhere else with picks and Fa's.

I think they're high on Fields but it'd be interesting with the talent available. Even Rodgers might be available.

An interesting thing about that is there is probably no meaningful way to test the market on that without pissing Fields off and possibly damaging the relationship permanently. I think you do your eval on the QBs available, and if you think one is better than Fields, you then look to trade Fields, but you make the decision to be all in on the trade first.

I think the public outcry would be too great to consider it though unless they were extraordinarily confident in the decision. If you were like 55/45, and you know you will be lambasted if you guess wrong on a new QB but won't get lambasted if you stick with Fields, then you just stick with Fields even if he's on the 45. If you are 80/20, then making the right decision is more important than the PR.

If they're a competent FO, they'll have a good idea of what his value is. And isn't Fields already making rumblings of unhappiness? I don't think it's likely but I can see it happening. They're at the point everything is available.

Again, I don't think they trade Fields, I think they like him and he's a unique talent. It's just that the door is open.

[Bandit King]

Hopkins is old for a WR anyways

[Jeffster81]

While you will hear rumors of the Bears scouting the QB's in the draft, I seriously doubt the Bears will trade JF (I'm not sure any of the QB in this year's draft is better than JF1) and select a QB.

[CjayC]

Quite pleasant to to wake up to Fields v Young talk.

I think they have an obligation to do the due diligence on the QBs. Anything less would be a disservice to the Fans & the Team, even if they do decide Fields is the guy going forward.

With that said I loved what I saw from 2nd half Justin. I can already envision trading Justin being a part of the never ending nightmare the Bears have at the QB position, once we see him blossom on a team with better structure.

[TheSuzerain]

It'll be interesting to see if they feel Fields can lead then and be a passer. They could trade Fields for a good return too and then sign a guy like Carr with all their cap space and reload everywhere else with picks and Fa's.

I think they're high on Fields but it'd be interesting with the talent available. Even Rodgers might be available.

An interesting thing about that is there is probably no meaningful way to test the market on that without pissing Fields off and possibly damaging the relationship permanently. I think you do your eval on the QBs available, and if you think one is better than Fields, you then look to trade Fields, but you make the decision to be all in on the trade first.

I think the public outcry would be too great to consider it though unless they were extraordinarily confident in the decision. If you were like 55/45, and you know you will be lambasted if you guess wrong on a new QB but won't get lambasted if you stick with Fields, then you just stick with Fields even if he's on the 45. If you are 80/20, then making the right decision is more important than the PR.

I think you are woefully mistaken on the Front Office not being lambasted if Young/Stroud excel and Fields sputters as a passer or gets injured.

Forking out a massive QB contract is also a definite danger zone for NFL GMs and that will be relevant for Fields in 1 year's time.

[Dresden]

Some tidbits from Brad Bigg's column today:

Eberflus on the type of player they like: We like long, lean, fast, physical players. We’re excited about getting that going.”

He talks to an unnamed NFL scout who said the FA market could be very disappointing, as many of the best players are likely to re-sign with their current teams unless there is some sort of character issue. It could be very slim pickings and "“There might be a few that squeak through, and in the world they’re going to live in, everyone makes such a big deal about having a ton of cap space — it’s not always the best thing. All you’re going to do is overpay a ton of guys.”

The scout says the WR class is the worst he's seen, and Jakobi Myers may be the best out there. “I actually like Chase Claypool better than Jakobi Meyers,” the scout said.

[CjayC]

It'll be interesting to see if they feel Fields can lead then and be a passer. They could trade Fields for a good return too and then sign a guy like Carr with all their cap space and reload everywhere else with picks and Fa's.

I think they're high on Fields but it'd be interesting with the talent available. Even Rodgers might be available.

An interesting thing about that is there is probably no meaningful way to test the market on that without pissing Fields off and possibly damaging the relationship permanently. I think you do your eval on the QBs available, and if you think one is better than Fields, you then look to trade Fields, but you make the decision to be all in on the trade first.

I think the public outcry would be too great to consider it though unless they were extraordinarily confident in the decision. If you were like 55/45, and you know you will be lambasted if you guess wrong on a new QB but won't get lambasted if you stick with Fields, then you just stick with Fields even if he's on the 45. If you are 80/20, then making the right decision is more important than the PR.

I think you are woefully mistaken on the Front Office not being lambasted if Young/Stroud excel and Fields sputters as a passer or gets injured.

Forking out a massive QB contract is also a definite danger zone for NFL GMs and that will be relevant for Fields in 1 year's time.

Yeah I think it's definitely close to a no win situation for Poles. You could look like the smartest guy in the room, or it could completely blow up in your face when dealing with QB.

Obviously fans, and ownership would be pissed if Young became a superstar and Fields didn't develop even if we did acquire better weapons. Functionally Poles will still get a couple of swings to draft his guy and get it right regardless, so I don't think his seat would be heating up quite yet.

[Dresden]

Also from Briggs:

His feeling is that Stroud is the #3 QB on the board. One scout told him Levis is the safest bet among QB's, although Young is the most talented. But his size, his weight actually more than his height, will give teams pause. He could weigh as little as 185.

On the offensive line: "You don’t need various rankings or grades to know the Bears were very poor in protecting Justin Fields and the other quarterbacks."

And this, from his convo with a "veteran personnel guy: “Knowing that you’re not going to rebuild this thing in one year, I would spend a lot of resources on the fronts,” he said. “And then try to hit on some skill guys late in the draft. You’re much more likely to find skill in the fourth through seventh rounds than you are to find legit O-line and D-line guys."

[Dresden]

Skip Bayless made an argument for drafting a QB with the #1 pick. https://sports.yahoo.com/skip-bayless-argues-bears-consider-215237352.html

The writer, Ryan Taylor, believes Fields would yield more in a trade than would the pick, something I thought was the other way around.

[waffle]

I am pro Fields but I could see them trading him because:
- He's that much closer to his big contract
- The bears are likely 2-3 years away from being good even if they KILL it in the next few drafts