One of the biggest questions of the offseason was answered on Saturday evening. What are the Chicago Bears going to do with Justin Fields?
The Bears traded their former first-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2025. Yes, that's all. The Steelers, who have been wheeling and dealing this offseason, also signed former Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson earlier in the week in addition to trading their former first-round pick, Kenny Pickett, to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Shortly after the 2023 season concluded for the Broncos, I ranked the eight best options for the team at quarterback in 2024. Fields was No. 1 on that list. Wilson was No. 2. Guess who was No. 8? Jarrett Stidham, the guy who the team currently has penciled in as its 2024 starter.
The Broncos were widely expected to add a veteran arm in free agency but have instead stood idly by as Gardner Minshew, Jameis Winston, Sam Darnold, Tyrod Taylor, Jacoby Brissett, Marcus Mariota, Mitch Trubisky, Drew Lock, Mason Rudolph, Joe Flacco and Jimmy Garoppolo have all signed with new teams.
That is not to suggest that the Broncos should have signed any of those guys, but shouldn't the team do something? The only quarterbacks currently on the roster are Stidham and Ben DiNucci. Neither of them is a better option than Fields... not even close.
While we wonder what the Broncos are doing, what in the heck are the Bears doing? You can argue that Fields was only worth a sixth-round pick, but that is due more to the Bears' negligence than it is Fields' talent. If the Bears were going to move on from Fields, they should have made a deal weeks ago when they could have gotten maximum value. They could have gotten a lot more.
A 2025 6th round pick that potentially turns into a 4th for Justin Fields? MY GAWD, the Chicago Bears completely mismanaged the Justin Fields trade market this offseason.
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 16, 2024
Now, you can argue that there was no trade market at all for Fields and that no teams had much interest. If that is the case, why trade him at all? Why not just keep him as a backup? Getting only a conditional sixth-round pick next season is just way too low.
Another option, if you were going to trade him, would have been to wait until the draft started. Emmanuel Acho, though he has some of his draft details (where Minnesota and Las Vegas pick at) mixed up, says it best here:
After a day to process it, here’s how the @ChicagoBears completely botched the Justin Fields trade, and what they should’ve done instead. Let’s talk! #AchoAnalysis pic.twitter.com/w8vF44xWOy
— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) March 17, 2024
Now let's get back to the Broncos who again, have basically nothing at the quarterback spot right now. Fields has had his issues, to be sure. But he is still just 25 years old. He has posted solid numbers with 6,674 passing yards and another 2,220 rushing yards in his career. In my opinion, he is the best running quarterback in the league, even ahead of Lamar Jackson.
He's got the athleticism. He has the raw ability. The knock on him has been turnovers and a win-loss record of 10-28, but he's also been in Chicago, a team that has not had the best coaching or sustained success for great lengths of time throughout team history.
This is the same Bears team that is going to keep Matt Eberflus as head coach but trade away Fields for a sixth-round pick, so it's not known as a place of good decisions.
The Broncos quite clearly are locked in on one of the rookies in the upcoming draft and it is likely that Sean Payton sees that player as the guy he is determined to get. But there will be no room for error with that pick. It will have to work out.
Fields would have been a nice insurance policy. This was the definition of a low-risk, high-reward deal. A young, experienced player who could still be molded into something in the right place with the right coaching.
That place could end up being Pittsburgh, but for pennies on the dollar, it should have been in Denver.