MARCH 10: ESPN’s Dan Graziano says the Bears did not find the trade market for Fields that they were hoping for (subscription required). Chicago, however, is not panicking and is willing to allow other quarterback dominos like Cousins and Mayfield to fall. Once some of the top players in the market find new homes or re-sign with their current clubs, there will still be a few QB-needy teams, at which point the interest in Fields should intensify.
While it now seems unlikely that Fields will fetch a second-round pick in a trade, the expectation remains that the Bears will eventually deal him and use the No. 1 pick on Williams.
MARCH 3: The situation of the Bears‘ future at the quarterback position has become quite a loaded topic. The closer we get to the 2024 NFL Draft, the more likely it’s beginning to seem that Chicago is attempting to move current starter Justin Fields as it prepares to move on to potential No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams. 
According to Diana Russini of The Athletic, chatter at the NFL scouting combine appeared to be consistent, with most believing that the Bears are moving on from Fields. Barring the team picking up his fifth-year option, 2024 would be the final year on Fields’ rookie contract. Instead of allowing Fields to play out his contract on the bench behind Williams, Chicago seems intent on dealing the 24-year-old and returning some value for a player they would eventually allow to walk in free agency.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler tells us that many in the league see Fields garnering a potential Day 2 pick for his services. A second- or third-round pick may not be the ideal result for a former first-round selection, but it’s better than getting nothing when his rookie deal expires. Fowler names the Falcons, Steelers, Raiders, and Vikings as possible teams of interest in Fields’ acquisition. Atlanta has been repeatedly linked to the young passer lately, with many debating whether or not he is the best fit in a Rams-influenced systems under new offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. Fowler reports the chances as “fairly good” that the Falcons walk away with either Fields, Kirk Cousins, or Baker Mayfield, leaving a larger range of possibilities for what Atlanta is looking for.
The Bears have made the claim that they want to “do right” by Fields by not leaving him in a “gray area.” Still, having shown their intentions, the team doesn’t necessarily have the strongest bargaining position. Russini poses that the team may need other moves to influence the demand for Fields. She quotes an NFC general manager who explained, “When people know you are getting rid of something, they don’t pay as much for it.” If a few veteran quarterbacks that are also available get moved and decrease the number of options for quarterback-needy teams, a bidding war for Fields may ensue. In order for that to occur, a number of big quarterback names would need to get signed well before the draft.
The draft serves as an effective deadline because once the Bears draft Williams, Fields becomes superfluous, and it’s seeming more and more likely that Williams will be the pick come late-April. At one point, that seemed to be in question as there were rumors that the USC quarterback may force a trade in an effort to avoid playing for the Bears. Williams has since backed down from that notion, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN, expressing excitement and intrigue in the prospect of heading to Chicago.
“I’m not pushing any agenda,” Williams said. “At the end of the day, the Bears have the last say. Regardless of how I feel, I’m not pushing an agenda of, ‘Yeah, I want to go,’ or ‘no, I don’t want to go.’ I’m excited for whatever comes.”
Still, Williams expressed a healthy interest in the Commanders, as well. Getting drafted to Washington would send Williams back to the area in which he went to high school at Gonzaga College HS. While he acknowledged that it would be cool to be so familiar with the area, he emphasized that his job is going to be in the facility working on his game.
There was also thought to be some concern about Williams’ draft-ability after some recent comments from his father, Carl. Carl was the one who suggested that his son would get “two shots at the apple,” according to Kalyn Kahler of The Athletic, essentially suggesting that if the situation as a No. 1 overall pick isn’t favorable, Williams could simply return to school with his NIL deals. The quote from Williams’ father made the rounds, seeding concern in some scouting circles.
Since then, though, it seems the concern has subsided. The more he was put under the microscope, the more Carl appeared just to be a heavily involved father who was extremely invested in helping his child achieve the peaks of his career and abilities. When asked about the situation at the NFL scouting combine, Bears general manager Ryan Poles claimed that he has “no concerns about” Carl’s comments, at all.
So, things appear to be falling into place. The Williams-era seems well on its way to being ushered in, and the Fields-domino will need to fall soon as a result. With free agency set to open in a week and a half, the demand for Fields may soon grow. It’s up to Chicago to find the perfect time to pull the trigger if they ultimately decide to deal Fields.
Water is wet
Yeah… not much has changed if this is the “latest”.
Right haha
Spelled “day THREE pick” wrong.
Ahhh, you thought you clicked on a Trey Lance story, got it.
If Fields was so good, shouldn’t he have been traded yet?
Unmmm, one has nothing to do with the other..
Why not? If a team really liked Fields, would they have not already made their move?
If Fields was so good he would not be available.
I think New England is actually a dark horse for Fields, especially if they’re not enamored w/ Daniels.
What makes you think this?
Really straightforward. If they don’t think Daniels is worth a #3, they can trade it for a major haul and use Fields for 1-2 years while they figure it out.
I don’t know, Baker Mayfield has garnered some interest by the Pats. Two different styles of play, so I guess it depends on how Mayo wants his offense run.
Mayfield’s front office from Cleveland is now in charge of personnel with New England. Not to mention Van Pelt was his OC for a couple of years in Cleveland. Fields has no ties to that staff or front office. That’s the problem with finding Fields an obvious landing spot. Despite how the media writes about it, these NFL people don’t operate their teams like Madden. You need to find coaches or personnel people who are pushing for him behind the scenes. No better example of this than when Pat Shurmur kept getting teams to roll the dice on Sam Bradford despite the mediocrity that was his whole career.
Considering how things went for him there, I think their history with Mayfield is a strike against them not for them. He’ll test the market, but he’s been much better in Tampa.
They were only with him for two years. All of those people got fired after the Kitchens year.
You have to go back to how enamored that front office was with him from Dorsey on down. If anything, that he had a resurgence in Tampa this past year despite my reservations about it as it was uneven would only reinforce their belief in him.
Fields is staying in Chicago in 2024 – as there is no market for him given his contract status. No team is going to throw a pick away on a player with his limitations who can also walk away at the end of the season.
Whoever trades for him can still activate his 5th year option. Nice try though.
Whoever trades for him can still activate his 5th year option.
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They can also sign him to a $250M/5 contract, but won’t. The 5th year option is worthless without him having proven himself.
I have a feeling teams have thrown CHI a 3rd or 4th rounder and they want more. Teams aren’t going to give up more than that based on exactly what you said.
I would like to see Fields play under a better coaching staff with better weapons to see his true value.
You must mean the Panthers…just kidding.
prolly be traded 3 days b4 the draft
Trade the pick. Williams will be a bust
The Bears will get a nice return for him. It doesn’t have to be a draft pick. It could be for a player or players. It could be multiple lower draft picks. There are many possibilities but the Bears will trade him in the next 2 weeks.
Thats the bears problem. They see what you see as aa return and the other 31 teams dont. So they need to come back to reality in terms of what he is actually worth. I see ONE 3rd rounder for Justin.
Neither You nor I know what the Bears will get for JF. My point is that the return can be many different things.
He could be traded straight up for a starting safety, multiple players or a first round pick in 2030. There’s so many possibilities.
The new report says what I have been saying all along.
“The Bears did not find the trade market they were HOPING for Fields.”
Meaning teams have probably thrown picks later than a 2nd and Bears want something greater. Seems you do too. Why would anyone trade a starting safety or a 1st rounder for Fields at this point? Makes no sense since he could be a FA next year if his 5th year option isn’t picked up. An expensive 5th year at that.
Shoot I see more of what the Broncos got for Jerry Juedy as what the bears could get for Fields. I know they play different positions but it speaks to their subpar play considering where they were both drafted.
Bears aren’t getting that high of a pick for him.
Shhhhhh…their fans were still thinking a first rounder was coming for Fields until a couple of weeks ago.
Fields’ trade return may well be a less than was speculated earlier, but people are reading too much into his not having been moved yet. The Jets didn’t trade Darnold until April. There’s still a lot of time.
Baker Mayfield lands in Atlanta (given his brief Rams connection in ’22), Kirk Cousins resigns with Minnesota, which leaves Fields to end up in Tampa, Washington or staying put in Chicago with no 5th year option.
They need more draft picks. They need to trade one of the 1st round picks down. It looks like they can get a decent C in FA. If they’re determined to draft Williams they still need to get him some receivers because they only have 1 you can count on. FA WR’s are expensive and they need another edge in FA and they’re expensive too. They need too many things to play around here. They need to trade #1 down and they can still get Maye or Daniels and more picks. Been saying it all along. If they draft Williams he won’t succeed with what they have now or will have this year without more picks.
They have tons of cap space to fill holes. Maybe trade down from their second first rounder, but giving up their best shot at the best quarterback because they’re worried about filling smaller holes would be lousy priorities.
Tons of Cap space? You better look again dude. Signing JJ and Hunter will cost around 45 million. Or another Edge make it 40 million at least. With 2 first round picks it will cost around 15 million just to sign their draft picks even the few they have. Will cost around 10 million for a decent C. How’s your cap space looking now?
OK, for starters, they have the fourth most cap space right now–over $78 million. That’s tons of cap space. Objectively. Even if you’re positive they’re going to make a bunch of expensive moves.
Let’s say they trade Fields and lock up Johnson to an absolute top of the market cornerback contract. That should bring them to $58-60 million. That would still put them at the seventh most cap space, and that’s assuming Johnson’s year one cap hit is an average of his deal.
Now let’s say it’s the low end of that and their draft class does cost $15 million (which as of right now is higher than the truth). That brings them to $43 million. That would still be in the top dozen teams in cap space.
Let’s say they spent another $30 million on, say, Hunter and Connor Williams or Andre James. They would STILL have more cap space than a third of the league has right now. Plenty of money to bring in a decent safety, a number 3 or 4 receiver, and some depth pieces.
Given how many of their premium positions would then be locked into long term deals or on rookie deals, they would be in fine cap shape for the near future.
But also: Why do they need to shop at the very top of the market at all these positions? Dorance Armstrong or AJ Epenesa would come cheaper than Hunter and be perfectly solid opposite Sweat. Not every signing has to be the biggest name possible. They already acquired Moore and Sweat for that.
QB Caleb Williams at #1
WR Rome Odunze #9
Upgrade the O-line in FA.
CHI isn’t winning the Superbowl this year, but they can build a new offense and bolster their defense.
Agreed. And if the top three receivers are all gone at 9, you can either trade back, get the top edge player, or trade back with someone who wants to jump the Jets for a tackle and get a different receiver.
First of all a lot of the FA’s you guys are talking about will be resigned by their old teams or just use other teams like the Bears to increase their offers. Making signing FA’s even more expensive than you guys think. Plus just the signing bonus for the #1 pick will almost be 10 million, Especially with the cap going up. So even signing 1,9, a third and 2 4th’s around 15 million. Trading the pick down gives you more money and picks. It’s the smart play. Next year you have a 1st and at least 2 2nd’s right now to finish it up if they’re smart this year. If they’re stupid, They’ll draft Williams so I expect that’s what they’ll do.
Worrying about the cap hits of draft picks is frankly absurd. The number one pick will most likely have a cap hit just over $7 million for this year. That’s less than 10% of their cap space, and they’re going to save a little more than $3 million against the cap by trading Fields.
Again, they could sign Johnson to a top of the market deal and sign all their draft picks at their current slots and still have $40 million in cap space after trading Fields. That’s plenty of money for what they need to do. Especially since they can structure contracts to take into account having a QB on a new rookie deal. There will be plenty of perfectly good edge rushers they could play opposite Sweat. Sure, some guys will be re-signed, but some guys will get cut, too, like Barrett just did. Heck, Khalil Mack is going to be available again.
The best path to winning is having a top 8-10 QB, especially on a rookie deal. Williams has a notably better chance of becoming that than Maye, Fields, or Daniels. Passing up the opportunity to take one of the best QB prospects of the last decade because you’re worried about six draft picks not being enough is just silly. A gift has fallen in their lap because of a shrewd trade with a dysfunctional organization. They should take the gift.
Spotrac estimates just signing the Bears draft class they have now at 14,900,000 Dollars. Reading is indeed a skill. In reality it will probably be more not less.
OK. So if they sign Johnson to a top of the market deal and sign all those picks, they’ll still have $40 million in cap space before trading Fields. That’s a great cap position for a team that’s already locked in so many important positions. They still have some holes to fill, but they have time and resources to do it.
So many of these “top” QB picks have been dross. Sam Darnold, Justin Fields, Trey Lance, Zach Wilson. That’s not to get into the Dwayne Haskins, Mac Jones mid-first round category.
Not sure why teams are willing to bet a franchise changing haul to pass on a poor odds lottery ticket. Any of these teams in the top three spots could just trade down, reinforce OL/DL and still pick up a good QB prospect.
Because you have to keep trying until you get it right? QB prospects are a gamble, but if the gamble really hits, it’s more important than anything else. The further down you draft, the bigger the gamble. Maye is a bigger gamble than Williams. Daniels is a much bigger gamble. And WIlliams is a better prospect going into the draft than any of the guys you cited was, including Fields, who still isn’t consistently even solid after three seasons.
Every team that won a playoff game this year except for one had a former first round pick at QB. It’s easy to cite highly picked busts, but picking a quarterback high is also generally where the best ones come from. And the best QBs are the most valuable thing in all of American sports. You gotta take a shot when it’s there for the taking, especially when you’ve got some solid infrastructure already built around the QB.
Most of the QB busts that occur are a result of that solid infrastructure NOT being there. I agree that teams will always take the gamble though because from the GMs perspective it’s better to lose your job swinging for the fences than getting axed with the bat still on your shoulder.
I’m betting that the Bears could win just as many games with Drake Maye as Caleb Williams. And maybe even more if they added some more picks in the process. #1 pick at QB means nothing anymore. It’s all about giving whoever that guy is the right system to play in and the right people around him.
These aren’t marbles or action figures. The Bears need to stick to their draft board and take “their guy”. Otherwise this all falls down like a house of cards. Picking yet another stiff at QB will get EvERYONE run out of Chicago, from Warren on down to the water boy.
Yep, never mind the red flags on Williams keep piling up, rumors of his camp trying to work with the Redskins in the background, and his delay of him going to Chicago for his physical are the latest flags on this guy…
And oddly enough, it appears that Washington might not pick Maye with the #2.
I’m still believing the Bears drafting Williams is smoke. The kid was 3-8 against ranked opponents, 65% completions rate, questionable if 6’1, average size hands, took 30+ sacks this year. If I’m the Bears I’m pumping sunshine around Williams and hoping to get a haul.
Yknow, this kid (Williams) just has more and more red flags, at the very least it appears he does not want to be with Chicago (not appearing for his day with the Bears when they had agreed does not help). Never mind the obvious flags (has the same knocks on him that Fields does: Fumbles a lot, tries to make something out of nothing, disappears against good Defenses, etc. At least Fields can hold back his emotions). Williams just screams bust at #1, especially if on this Bears team that is not ready for another rookie QB (still need O line help, WR help, another good TE would be nice as well, and that’s just on the offense).
I still think the way to be most productive with the pick is that Poles trade down, find another team will to give up the store for this guy and build the rest of the team via the Draft picks you get, either get a QB via FA or give all of those weapons to Fields and see what he can do this season.
Sure Williams can be ‘the’ guy, same with all of these QBs in the draft, but the odds are against a team getting ‘that guy’ and if the Bears miss they blow a big opportunity to improve the team overall, and no one will say ‘well everyone said he would be good’ they will simply say ‘Poles blew it’.
I’m so tired of hearing about cousins. He’s overrated.HE had Jefferson and theilen and an all pro running back. Couldn’t win big games. Yea, great stats. Bit Marino and tarkenton had great stats but no rings.
Cousins is coming off Achilles heal surgery and is 35. 50 mill a year lol
Cousins’s agent should be nominated for some sort of Agent HoF, getting him all of that guaranteed money to be above average at best.
As a Lions fan, I truly hope the Bears trade Fields and draft Williams. I honestly do not see what vthe infatuation with God Williams is all about? He could BARELY get the Trojans, who are loaded with offensive talent, to a .500 mark. Fields to major steps last season and given the right coaching could develop into a real weapon in this league. So I really do hope this whole situation plays out.
Keep Fields because you’re not getting anything for him.