Could Bears keep Fields and draft a QB in 1st round?
GREEN BAY — There has been discourse about the Bears possibly keeping Justin Fields and drafting a quarterback in the first round, perhaps after trading down from No. 1.
It would put the Bears in a position in which they could collect a windfall via the trade and still select a quarterback, let’s say in the top five or so picks for the sake of discussion.
I’ve been opposed to this being a legitimate option for a while. But maybe Ryan Poles and the Bears will want to explore it. Let me explain some challenges and arguments against it.
If Poles were to use a high first-round pick on a quarterback — drafting one in the top five or even top 10 — it would signal the team is uncertain Fields is the solution for the future.
The way NFL practices are designed, the No. 2 quarterback doesn’t get enough reps. So if the Bears were to draft a quarterback and theoretically set him up for a “redshirt” season, there aren’t enough reps to develop the quarterback of the future. Fields would be in a situation in which he would need to play well and win in 2024, and the Bears likely would have to take reps away from him to help bring along the rookie. The Bears could say they’ve put extensive planning and thought into a process to do it, but the bottom line is reps would be shaved from each player. From a practical standpoint, this would be an issue.
One reason for drafting a quarterback — it’s far from the biggest but it is a factor — is the idea that the franchise can reset the clock with a rookie and move on from Fields. They would swap a quarterback on Year 4 of a four-year contract (with a fifth-year option) for a quarterback on Year 1 of a contract of the same length. In this scenario — keeping Fields and drafting a quarterback — they would be wasting a year of the window for the rookie quarterback by “redshirting” him.
The comparison to the Packers, who had Aaron Rodgers in place when they drafted Jordan
Love in the first round in 2020, is an apples-to-oranges discussion. Rodgers was a 36-year-old, two-time MVP and a shoo-in for the Pro Football Hall of Fame when the Packers selected Love. Rodgers went on to win two more MVP awards. Fields, who turns 25 in March, isn’t in that stratosphere. Plus, the Packers drafted Love at No. 26 after he fell in the draft. They weren’t necessarily driven to select a QB but felt he was too good to pass up considering Rodgers’ age.
My hunch is Fields and his camp would push for a trade if the Bears were to draft a quarterback.
Finally, the Bears must know that using a high pick on a quarterback and keeping Fields would create a bit of a circus at Halas Hall. National media would be there on a regular basis, and if chatter about the QB situation is polarizing now, it would reach new heights with QB1 and QB1a on the roster. Maybe that wouldn’t deter the Bears, but it would be an element they would have to acknowledge.
There’s more than enough time for every angle to be examined in great detail. The Bears will be in no rush to reach a conclusion as the pre-draft process is just cranking up.
The Bears made it through the season in exceptionally good health.
They had to do some shuffling on the offensive line at the start of the season and dealt with some injuries in the secondary, but defensive end Yannick Ngakoue was the only starter to land on injured reserve with a season-ending injury. Ngakoue suffered a fractured left ankle in Week 14, so he was healthy for the majority of the season.
Left guard Teven Jenkins, free safety Eddie Jackson and running back Khalil Herbert missed five games each, quarterback Justin Fields was out for four and right guard Nate Davis sat out four because of injury, but the Bears avoided the type of issues that shut players down for the season. Fantasy Predictors created something called a BUS for every team. It’s a Banged Up Score, which evaluates the health of every team’s position group. It ranked the Bears No. 2 in the league behind the Rams.
Looking around the NFC North, the Packers were No. 6, the Lions are No. 14 and the Vikings are No. 27, crippled by the loss of quarterback Kirk Cousins to a torn Achilles tendon and WR Justin Jefferson for nearly half the season with a hamstring injury.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus was mindful of the health of his roster, tweaking the practice schedule during the stretch run. He monitored data provided by the sports science staff that showed how much running players had done and how much recovery time would be optimal. That’s helpful for soft-tissue injuries.
Football is a violent game and injuries happen. The Bears were fortunate in that area, one factor in their success in the second half of the season.
The Bears have 16 players who will be free agents.
That’s a significant reduction from the end of last season, when a whopping 30 players were coming out of contract. Fifteen will be unrestricted free agents with the only outlier cornerback Josh Blackwell, who will be an exclusive rights free agent.
The unrestricted free agents by position (started 8 or more games in bold):
QB: Nathan Peterman
RB: D’Onta Foreman
WR: Darnell Mooney, Equanimeous St. Brown, Trent Taylor
TE: Marcedes Lewis, Robert Tonyan
OL: Lucas Patrick, Dan Feeney
DT: Justin Jones
DE: Yannick Ngakoue, Rasheem Green
LB: Dylan Cole
CB:
ST: LS Patrick Scales Johnson is the big name, and barring something unexpected — and who thought there would be a trade request right before the deadline in October? — I believe the Bears will extend him or keep him in place with the franchise or transition tag.
A small handful of other players could have an opportunity to re-sign with the team. That process will take some time to play out. I wouldn’t expect much action before the start of the new league year — March 13 — nears. How many return will depend on what the team does with the coaching staff.