Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields is about to fall victim to the silly time on the NFL off-season calendar.
The former first-round pick should be familiar with this role after being a victim of a disastrous supporting cast over the course of his first two seasons in Chicago. But this is something completely different.
Chicago boasts the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. While general manager Ryan Poles has said that the team is seriously considering a trade down, leakage coming from the Windy City is pretty foul-smelling right now.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported recently that Chicago will do its homework on the top-three quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft (Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Will Levis from Kentucky).
Fowler’s report indicates that the Bears are high on Fields’ ceiling but intend to follow through with scouting these three top signal callers.
There are several different layers to this report. First off, Chicago wants other teams to think that it might do the impossible and move off Fields for a rookie quarterback. The idea here would be to up the value it receives in a trade down from the No. 1 spot. Hence, silly season around the league.
Regardless of that narrative, even the idea of moving off Fields less than two calendar years after the Bears’ previous regime traded up for him makes no sense. In fact, the quarterback doesn’t seem to be too happy about what’s transpiring on the rumor mill right now.
“Everybody would love honesty in the process. I would definitely like to know that,” Fields said recently about being involved in the Bears’ draft process.
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Stop this now, Justin Fields is not going to be traded
For as bad as Chicago has been in recent years, it’s still foolish to believe that Poles and Co. would simply give up on a young quarterback with the upside that Fields possesses. None of the top-three signal callers in the 2023 NFL Draft are viewed as generational-type talents.
In fact, Bryce Young is in the initial stages of seeing his draft stock drop following a brilliant career with the Alabama Crimson Tide. As for what Fields brings to the table, he showed out in a big way as a sophomore for a talent-stricken Bears team.
- Justin Fields stats (2022): 60% completion, 2,242 passing yards, 1,143 rushing yards, 25 total TD, 11 INT
These numbers came with Fields’ top receiving threats being Cole Kmet, Darnell Mooney and David Montgomery. That sounds like a whole lot of fun.
This all leads us to believe that Chicago is simply playing the PR game with trade talks for the No. 1 pick set to intensify further.
“Teams are keeping close tabs on the Bears, who own the No. 1 pick in April’s draft, and the prevailing theme is Poles is very high on value. Despite in-season trades of linebacker Roquan Smith and edge rusher Robert Quinn, Chicago has just eight picks in the draft and only one in the top 50. Poles will most likely aim to change that.”
Jeremy Fowler report on Chicago Bears draft process
Read between the lines, good folks.