Justin Field Saga Continues As Takes The Bold To Announce His Departure From The Bears Today…Reactions.
After a rough three-game start to the NFL season, Justin Fields has pieced together an argument, one that says that despite some inconsistency, he is getting better as a quarterback.
He’s missing fewer wide-open throws. He’s playing more patient in the pocket and drifting less. He’s running to complement and balance his game, rather than falling out of structure to hunt plays.
With 34 starts now under his belt for the Chicago Bears, you can draw a line between two 17-game samples — which would represent two full NFL seasons — and see that his second 17 is markedly better than his first.
After his next four games to conclude the 2023 season, we will find out if the Bears are buying the argument that he’s worth passing on Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick.
At least seven NFL general managers aren’t convinced. And the consensus is that it’s not really a close decision.
“It would be a clear-cut decision to draft Caleb for me,” an AFC general manager said. “The fact that we’re in Year 3 and [they] don’t want to exercise the fifth-year option tells me what I need to know. I just don’t think Fields can win consistently as a passer, even though he is gifted physically.”
“[Caleb Williams] worries me, but he is definitely talented,” an NFC general manager said. “It just buys you more time and a much cheaper contract to keep adding pieces to build the team.”
“When you pass on talented quarterbacks to lean into a guy’s development, which the Bears did when they traded No. 1 last year, you have to be completely sure of that decision to do it a second time,” another AFC general manager said.
“They might not have taken Ryan Poles with the first pick last [offseason], but he was there for them to do it. Caleb Williams is a no-brainer, and if they get the top pick, he’s there for them. Sometimes the gamble is continuing to pass on players.
Fields doesn’t get over the hump, you don’t want to be the guys that passed on both Stroud and Caleb Williams.
The GMs offered a multitude of reasons to trade Fields and pick Williams: the considerable talent Caleb Williams brings to the table, his more refined acumen as a passer, the opportunity to reset with a rookie quarterback contract, needing to make a fifth-year option decision on Fields this spring, when it appears more data is still necessary … on and on.
Another NFC general manager pointed out a psychological aspect of this crossroads: Bears GM Ryan Poles hasn’t drafted his own quarterback — Fields was the selection of the previous regime — yet his job status is directly impacted by Fields’ development.