After the 2022 NFL season, the Chicago Bears held the 1st overall pick of the draft. Since the quarterback is the most valuable position on the field, the first pick is almost always a quarterback. However, in the latter half of their season, their quarterback Justin Fields played amazing football and showed great potential. Therefore, the Bears traded away the pick to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for DJ Moore, the No. 9 pick in the 2023 draft, the No. 61 pick, plus a 2024 first-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick. Instead of indicating who won the trade, the 2023 left us with even more questions. On one hand, Fields had a disappointing and injury-plagued season. Yet, on the other hand, DJ Moore was incredible, Bryce Young was underwhelming, and the Panthers were so bad that the Bears ended up with the first overall pick again. This leaves Chicago’s general manager, Ryan Poles, with a major decision: should he trade Justin Fields and draft and quarterback or stick with Field and trade the pick again? Here’s the argument for either side and my opinion:
TRADE FIELDS:
The first time around, the Chicago Bears elected to trade the pick and stick with Justin Fields for two reasons. Neither reason is relevant this time around. Therefore, one can claim the Bears should trade Fields.
The first reason was that Fields showed incredible improvement and promise in the second half of the 2022 season. The Bears expected to have that version of Fields for the entire 2023 season, but that didn’t happen. In 2023, Fields threw for under 200 yards per game, ran for 486 yards less than he did in 2022, and dealt with a thumb injury. After Fields’ lackluster 2023 season, there aren’t the same MVP expectations he had after his 2022 season.
The second reason was the lack of talent in the draft. The 2023 draft class was an above-average class at the quarterback position. Nevertheless, there wasn’t one generational, “can’t miss” prospect that jumped off the board. This year, that is not the case. USC’s Caleb Wiliams is by far the best quarterback prospect we’ve seen in the past couple of years. Williams won the Heisman Trophy in 2022 and had another good year in 2023. In only 26 games for the Trojans, Williams put up 8,170 yards and 72 touchdowns through the air, and 537 yards and 21 touchdowns on the ground. 3 out of 4 of those are better than what Fields did in his entire college career. Caleb Williams has the potential to be much better than Fields ever will.
TRADE THE PICK:
While Justin Fields didn’t live up to the MVP-level hype he received before the season, he did show the Bears a lot of small things teams want to see from their young quarterbacks. In 2023 Fields had 2 interceptions and 6 fumbles fewer than in 2022 and improved his passer rating to a career-high 86.3. Furthermore, he won more games than in either of his first two seasons. After all, the quarterback’s number 1 job is to win the game.
In addition, while Caleb Williams’ on-the-field product is elite, I have my concerns regarding his off-the-field product. Williams and his dad have vocalized concerns and demands regarding where Caleb plays, but he’s only a rookie quarterback who hasn’t proven anything, who is he to be saying these things? In addition, Williams broke down in front of cameras following losses in 2023. He was seen crying to his mom on the sidelines and has told the press that he wanted to “Go home and cuddle with my dog and watch some shows.” Having emotions is healthy, it shows he cares, but he shouldn’t show it to the world. This shows me that Williams lacks leadership skills and the ability to handle adversity.
MY OPINION:
In my opinion, the Chicago Bears should stick with Justin Fields. The arguments for both sides are strong, but unless there’s a completely perfect prospect, it’s hard to pass on the ransom of picks and players they can get for the first overall pick. We saw how good DJ Moore was last year and how valuable the picks they got became. The Bears can use the pick’s value to continue building around Fields. If he wasn’t playing behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league (Ranked 24th by PFN), he’d be a much better quarterback. However, here’s the main reason I would stick with Fields: Almost half of the quarterbacks drafted in recent years have been busts! Out of the 14 quarterbacks selected in the first round from 2016 through 2019, only 8 played out their entire rookie contract (4 or 5 years) with the team that drafted them. 6 failed to play out their deals and an additional two never became franchise quarterbacks either. Here's the list:
Quarterback | Original Team | Number of Starts for the Team | Number of Years with the Team | Passer Rating While Playing for the Team (0-158.3) |
Jared Goff | Los Angeles Rams | 69 | 5 | 91.5 |
Carson Wentz | Philadelphia Eagles | 68 | 5 | 89.2 |
Paxton Lynch | Denver Broncos | 4 | 2 | 76.7 |
Mitchell Trubisky | Chicago Bears | 50 | 4 | 87.2 |
Baker Mayfield | Cleveland Browns | 59 | 4 | 87.8 |
Sam Darnold | New York Jets | 38 | 3 | 76.6 |
Josh Rosen | Arizona Cardinals | 13 | 1 | 66.7 |
Dwayne Haskins | Washington Commanders | 13 | 2 | 74.4 |
Dear Ryan Poles, don’t risk Caleb Williams being a bust, stick with Fields and get what you can for the pick.
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