The Cardinals selected quarterback Kyler Murray as their #1 overall pick in 2019, despite making a 10th overall pick for quarterback Josh Rosen a year earlier. The Bears had a chance to do something similar this year.
They drafted Justin Fields with 11th pick overall in 2021, but ended up #1 overall pick this year and could have drafted Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Anthony Richardson, or Will Levis.
Instead, they traded the top pick to the Panthers and chose to build around Fields with a firm belief that he is their quarterback of the present and future.
Although general manager Ryan Poles did his due diligence on top quarterback prospects, it never occurred to him that the Bears might recruit a quarterback, Fields said.
“No, not really,” Fields said Tuesday of ESPN’s Courtney Cronin. “It’s great for me to have that confidence from the coaching staff. You don’t realize it, but we communicate constantly here and trust each other completely. Just because they have my back, they know what a leader I am to my teammates. You know how great I want to be and the work I put into it. It’s definitely great to have them behind my back.”
Fields has shown promise, rushing for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns last season while leading the league with 7.1 yards per carry. He completed 60.4 percent of his passes. But he led the league in 16 fumbles, threw 11 interceptions, averaged 149.5 passing yards per game and had a league-leading 55 sacks.
Offensive coordinator Luke Getsy said earlier this offseason that Fields was “light years ahead” of his last season.
Fields explains it as a level of comfort he didn’t have in 2022 as he learned a new offense for the second time in two NFL seasons.
“It’s really amazing when you feel like you know where your guys are going to be early on and you feel more comfortable with the footwork,” Fields said.
Continue reading