Since the end of the NFL draft earlier this month, a rumor emerged that the Minnesota Vikings had a ton of interest in Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. Enough to where they placed a ton of phone calls about possibly moving up from their 14th overall pick to get him. Most assumptions are GM Rick Spielman wasn’t willing to pay the needed price to make a deal happen. Then as they kept trying to figure something out, the worst-case scenario arrived.
The Chicago Bears jumped up from the 20th overall pick to the 11th spot in a deal with the New York Giants. Fields heard his name called a few moments later. Just like that, the Vikings went from almost having him as their next quarterback to having to face him twice per year. Is this rumor true though? Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk added further confirmation in a recent article. Minnesota wanted Fields, seeing him as their exit strategy from Kirk Cousins.
As disclosed in a video published by the Panthers, the Vikings called Carolina in an attempt to trade up from No. 14 to No. 8 in the first round of the 2021 draft. Per a league source, the Vikings were targeting quarterback Justin Fields.
Previously, it had been believed the Vikings would have seriously considered Fields if he had slid to No. 14. Their interest in him moves to a new level if they were considering trading up to get him…
…Then there’s the fact that trading up for Fields would have underscored the fact that incumbent starter Kirk Cousins has, at most, two years left in Minnesota. With a contract that pays out $21 million in 2021 and $35 million in 2022, Cousins has said publicly that he’s not interested in extending his deal.
Spielman thus learned a harsh lesson about the draft.
Playing it cheap isn’t likely to land you the quarterback of your preference. According to that video released by the Panthers, Minnesota wasn’t willing to part with their 1st round pick in 2022. GM Scott Fitterer wasn’t even going to entertain a deal under those circumstances. One can imagine the same scenario played out for Minnesota when they called Denver, Dallas, and New York. The offer wasn’t good enough.
This continues a trend for Spielman throughout his tenure in Minnesota. When it comes to the 1st round, he is consistently careful. He’s never traded up once in his long run with the team. His boldest move at QB was trading a 1st for Sam Bradford back in 2016 and that was done out of pure desperation after Teddy Bridgewater suffered his catastrophic knee injury. The rest of his tenure has been about settling for guys.
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Christian Ponder in 2011. Bridgewater in 2014. Cousins in 2018. Now Kellen Mond in 2021.
Justin Fields could prove to be the biggest one that got away
From a talent perspective, he is better than anybody the Vikings have employed outside of Brett Favre in Spielman’s long tenure. Size? Speed? Arm strength? Accuracy? He has everything a team could want. If he can learn to grasp the speed of the NFL level, he is going to be a really, really good player. Rather than have him as their future, the lack of aggressiveness they showed may result in having to play him twice a year.
Not a great sign considering the Vikings already had problems with the Bears before this. They’re 1-5 against Chicago since 2018. That was with Mitch Trubisky, Chase Daniel, and Nick Foles as the quarterbacks. How much worse could it get if Fields ends up reaching his potential? Probably not something Vikings fans want to think about too much. Otherwise, depression may set in.
Time will tell.
The Bears only completed part of the mission. Landing Justin Fields was just the first step. Now it’s their job to give him the right coaching and to surrounding him with as much help as possible. Things they haven’t always been good at in years past. That said, they may be in a better position this time than they ever have been before. A QB-friendly coaching staff. Heavy investments on offense in free agency and the draft. Their mission is clear.
