Every time people talk about the quarterback Justin Fields can be like if this progress as they have, the names that immediately comes to mind is Jalen Hurts. It’s an easy leap to make. Hurts struggled as a rookie, made some progress in his second year, and then blossomed once the Philadelphia Eagles got him some viable weapons in the passing game. However, upon closer examination, Hurts isn’t the comparison that fits Fields. When looking at skill set, playing style, and career trajectory, another Eagles QB immediately comes to mind.
Randall Cunningham was a unique specimen when he arrived in the 1980s. He was tall, athletic, fast, and had a rocket right arm. He was also way underdeveloped as a pocket passer with no understanding of how to process the game at the professional level. This led to several issues. His completion percentage was awful through his first three seasons (52.9). He took a massive amount of sacks (146 in 33 games) and had problems turning over the football (27 INTs and 22 fumbles). At the same time, Cunningham began using his exceptional mobility to create plays on the ground and was one of the best deep ball throwers in the game.
Sound familiar?
Justin Fields is battling the same issues.
Many revered Cunningham for his athletic feats, but he also had plenty of critics. Analysts knew that his style of play wasn’t sustainable in the long term and knew it wouldn’t win Philadelphia a championship. He had to learn how to play the position properly. It’s not like he was unwilling to learn. The problem is the Eagles didn’t do the best job building him protection. During his four best seasons there from 1987 through 1990, none of their starting offensive linemen made a single Pro Bowl. Cunningham was sacked 205 times despite his constant scrambling out of trouble. When he tried to do as he was told, he tore his ACL from a low tackle in the pocket.
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This is the same issue Justin Fields faces. It isn’t that he wants to be the guy scrambling around. He doesn’t trust his protection enough to develop as a pocket passer. People talk about Hurts making the jump. It wasn’t the receivers that helped him get there. It was an offensive line that was among the best in the NFL in pressures allowed. People finally saw what happened with Cunningham when he got similar conditions in 1998 with the Minnesota Vikings. He had a top O-line and a bevy of weapons like Cris Carter, Randy Moss, and Andrew Glover. He finished with 3700 yards passing, 34 touchdowns, and only ten interceptions.
That is who Fields can be if the Bears build the offense right.
OLine Dline LB WR
I loved watching Cunningham play. He was special. Comparing the players I can see the similarities. Their situations were completely different. The Eagles defense was stacked then. Reggie White and Jerome Brown and many others. All being led by the great Buddy Ryan. This had to help their situations on offense. Plus he had Cris Carter.
Poles is “on the case”. he KNOWS OL is the key to JF becoming a franchise QB. That is why I’m FINE with them not reallllllly taking any WR in the DRAFT. OL! OL! OL! (dl!, dl! dl). having said that… there isn’t a ‘LOCK’ or top 1 OLman in this draft. There are 2 top DL in this draft…. so….sadly(for JF), they are going to have to take a ‘2nd tier’ OL, this draft. I think some of these ‘2nd tier’ guys will be UPGRADES over what we watched last season, though so… it’ll get fixed … might take… Read more »
Very hard for any QB to go through his reads and progressions while not having trust in his offensive line. Instead of being 100% focused on execution, in the back of their mind they are worried about when they’ll have to bail or how big a hit they’ll take sitting in the pocket. Like Philly said you can’t learn running for your life. Priority #1 should be getting a good offensive line.
A lot of fans are sick to death of hearing it, and I’m sick of repeating it but it’s true: If you wait too long to get him a solid OL, a lot of his potential goes down the drain. He really can’t learn and train while he’s running for his life. So all that is delayed until that line is in place.