The jury remains out on Justin Fields. Evaluators at the national and local levels don’t know what to make of the young quarterback. His rookie year was tough to watch. He turned the ball over way too much and had a hard time protecting himself. At the same time, several moments made you feel he can be great in the NFL. It is difficult to know if he is ready or capable of taking the next step in his development.
The Chicago Bears haven’t made matters easy for him. He already has to learn a new offense. In fairness, the last one under Matt Nagy was terrible but changes this early for a young QB are never easy. The roster surrounding him is questionable too. Darnell Mooney should be a solid receiver. Everything else is a mystery. Cole Kmet failed to score a touchdown in 2021. Byron Pringle had one good year in Kansas City. Velus Jones is a rookie. The offensive line has no clear starter at both tackle positions.
Despite that, many around the league remain optimistic about him.
Mike Sando of The Athletic polled 50 coaches and executives around the NFL discussing quarterbacks. Fields ranked 25th, surprisingly ahead of Tua Tagovailoa, Davis Mills, Zach Wilson, and Trey Lance. While there are lingering concerns about his overall feel for the game, there is still a strong belief he will improve this year. Here’s what one coach had to say.
“It is everything else he has to figure out. I don’t think he is going to be a top-shelf guy this year, but you are going to trend. You are going to say, ‘We can win with this guy.’ I don’t think he is ever going to be a 1. I think he can climb to maybe a 2, high Tier 3.”
An executive chimed in with much the same stance. There should be incremental improvement this year with more experience and a better system.
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“Fields has the ability, talent, skillset to ascend,” a personnel director said. “I don’t know if he has the weapons around him to ascend at a rapid pace. He should be a better player this year.”
Justin Fields has plenty to prove.
He knows that. The young man isn’t a stranger to adversity. He was in the shadow of Trevor Lawrence coming out of high school. Then he didn’t get a fair opportunity at Georgia. So he had to transfer to Ohio State. Last year he got thrown onto the field woefully underprepared by Matt Nagy and his staff and somehow still managed to show progress before injuries sidelined him. If one looks close enough, they’ll have seen the signs.
The biggest hurdle to get over is “feel.” For all his unbelievable talent, experts seem to think Justin Fields lacks the natural instincts for playing in the pocket. He holds the ball too long and doesn’t sense the pressure well. Some quarterbacks have that right away. Others can learn it. Still others never get it right. That unknown element is why people are reluctant to buy into Fields. That and the Bears’ ugly quarterback history. There is lots of history working against him. We’re about to see if he can handle it.
He was never in the shadows of Trevor Lawrence. Lawrence was in his shadows!
So, there are execs that would put a ceiling on Fields. Marinelli says don’t accept that. Go Justin!
I think most fans think he can improve in year 2 what most of us are worried about is the whole team being worse than last year talent wise. We lost a lot of solid players this off season and didnt really bring much back to help him out.