Getty Image / Quinn Harris
For the second consecutive year, the team holding the first pick in the NFL Draft doesn’t appear to need a quarterback.
Last year, it didn’t matter much because the first quarterback wasn’t taken until the 20th pick in the draft.
This season, it has created an interesting situation.
The Chicago Bears could easily turn pick 1 into an absolute haul in a trade and build around Justin Fields.
There are also some who believe that they should trade Fields for a haul of picks and players and grab one of the top quarterbacks available in the draft with the top pick.
According to a former NFL star, that may actually be the approach the Bears end up taking.
Warren Sapp appeared on the Boone Podcast and said that he’s hearing the Bears are looking to trade Fields for some pieces to build around Bryce Young, who they would take 1st overall.
*EXCLUSIVE* pro football #hof’er @WarrenSapp says the #Bears will be looking to trade that first pick AND Justin Fields! #BoonePodcast whole episode available tomorrow! @theboone29 pic.twitter.com/fcmmmJvI93
— Dan 'Bass' Levy (@bassonair) January 26, 2023
It would be pretty surprising to see the Bears give up on Fields this early in his career.
He has been given just about nothing to work with so far in his career.
His first year, he had a disaster of a coaching staff.
In his second year, Darnell Mooney was his best receiver and, aside from Cole Kmet, the rest of his receiving corps were guys who had struggled elsewhere.
Their defense this season also wasn’t particularly good, so it fell on Fields to keep them in some games.
Despite all of that working against him, Fields still showed off his potential this season.
At one point this year, Fields played a five game stretch where he threw for 773 yards, added 552 yards on the ground, and contributed 15 total touchdowns.
The Bears averaged 29.6 points per game in those 5 performances. They won once.
If the Bears really do decide that moving on from Fields is the best move, there will be some team out there that could benefit greatly from that decision.