Will Justin Fields be good in the NFL? That is the question Chicago Bears fans will be asking for many months to come. It’s a question they’ve asked for so many quarterbacks in the past 30 years. From Jim Harbaugh to Cade McNown, to Rex Grossman, to Jay Cutler, to Mitch Trubisky. All of them failed to live up to expectations. Chicago is starving for a quarterback. Fields has a heavy burden on his shoulders.
Is he equipped to handle it? Plenty of experts believe so. He’s handled a lot of adversity in his career already. Having to transfer from Georgia after his freshman season. Fighting to play immediately at Ohio State. Losing to Clemson in the CFB playoffs in 2019. Narrowly avoiding a Big Ten cancellation the 2020 season. Playing through multiple injuries to reach the national championship game. He’s a tough young man with loads of talent.
There is also one part of his background that isn’t mentioned enough.
The fact he played baseball extensively in high school. As a senior, he was highly touted by scouts. Had he stayed in school, he’d have been eligible for the June MLB First-Year Player Draft. Given his accomplishments and ridiculous athletic profile? He’d have been drafted early. So why didn’t it happen? Fields’ love for baseball just wasn’t there. He enjoyed the sport but not as much as football. So he enrolled early at Georgia and the rest is history.
Yet many believe that background of work in baseball was vital to his rapid development as a quarterback in college. This was for a number of reasons. The ability to change his arm angles and still throw on target. Using his lower body to generate power in his throws. Also the necessity of game awareness such as how many outs, how many balls and strikes, and so on. This made it easier for him to grasp the physical and mental challenges of being a quarterback.
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It shouldn’t be a surprise. History shows that a baseball background is present with many great quarterbacks. Past and present. Here’s a list of notable names who had the option to go professional had they not chosen football.
- Patrick Mahomes
- Russell Wilson
- Tom Brady
- Steve McNair
- John Elway
- Dan Marino
- Joe Theismann
- Archie Manning
- Ken Stabler
Quite a collection of talent is it not?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeqoHenz2dc&ab_channel=CaptureaStar
Justin Fields has a chance to put this theory to the test
He is the first quarterback in a long time to have a significant baseball background. The last one to do so? Jim McMahon. He said later in life that he would’ve chosen baseball if given the opportunity. The problem is no team ever offered him a scholarship. So he went with football. It seems the background served him pretty well as he helped the Bears to their last truly great run of success in the 1980s.
Justin Fields was good enough to actually have a choice. That bodes well for what lay ahead. The young quarterback is already putting in work. He’s posting videos of his workouts and pestering his coaches at night with texts about cadences. It is clear he isn’t letting the hype of the draft affect him at all. He is in the business of winning and that requires doing everything it takes to prepare.
Baseball was one step in that process.
Something previous quarterbacks used to great effect. Now Fields aims to be another in that line. He certainly has the talent. His tape shows somebody who would’ve looked right at home on a diamond just as much as a football field. It will be fun watching him deliver some fastballs on Sundays.