Justin Fields will serve as the backup quarterback to Russell Wilson as the newest member of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That is quite the sentence!
Would it have made sense 365 days ago? Probably not.
Is it the new reality in the NFL? Yes. Chicago shipped Fields to Pittsburgh three years after drafting him No. 11 overall. The move was intended to clear the way for future No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams.
However, it feels like the Bears waited way too long to flip their now-former starter and completely misjudged the market. All they received in return for Justin Fields was a conditional sixth-round pick for 2025.
On the flip side, the Steelers essentially turned a quarterback room of Kenny Pickett, Mason Rudolph and Mitch Trubisky into Fields and Wilson. It only cost them a late-round pick and $1.2 million. Pretty good!
What’s weird, though, is that their offer for Fields was actually not the best offer.
According to Courtney Cronin and Brooke Pryor of ESPN, Chicago actually accepted a less significant compensatory package to do the right thing. It had a better deal on the table and said no.
The Bears had an additional offer with stronger draft capital from a team with an established starter, per a source, but chose to send Fields to Pittsburgh with the hope of putting the 25-year-old in a position to continue his development — first as a backup to Wilson and eventually as a starter.
— ESPN
Hm…
While it is very nice of the Bears to consider Fields’ future, the NFL is a business. To turn down a better offer in exchange for no hard feelings is not typically something that would be considered a “good” move.
General manager Ryan Poles must be a big believer in karma and the organization must have the utmost respect for Fields as a person. Either that, or the “stronger draft capital” that it would have received in a different trade must have been marginal in the grand scheme of things.
An NFL team actually accepted a worse deal to do right by its former starting quarterback in real life. That’s pretty crazy!