Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields has already had to deal with more than his share of ridiculous ideas about his NFL potential. First, there was the whole “he’s a one-read quarterback” thing, which was easily disprovable to anyone who’d ever watched his tape with even a cursory glance. Then, there was the whole “he’s a slow processor” thing, which could be easily disproven if you’ve taken a look at Ohio State’s passing game and the plethora of option routes Fields had to consider. Then, there was the whole “He’s an Ohio State quarterback, so he’s going to be a bust in the NFL” thing, as if Fields, Dwayne Haskins, Cardale Jones, Troy Smith, Craig Krenzel, and Steve Bellisari were all built in the same factory somewhere.
Then, there was the whole “Maybe his work ethic is questionable” thing, which doesn’t even deserve a response that doesn’t include profanity.
Recently, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen laid another whopper on the pile, bringing up questions about Fields’ throwing mechanics (which are generally not called into question) with the hypothesis that this mechanical schism was somehow created because Fields has also played baseball. .
No, really.
Chris Mortensen with a real humdinger here suggesting Justin Fields has bad throwing mechanics because he’s been playing baseball, a sport he has not played since 2018 pic.twitter.com/0idwpfUC11
— Ben Koo (@bkoo) April 13, 2021
So… because Fields played baseball in high school, and played it well, we’re supposed to believe that he had some sort of funky, unworkable delivery? Like, huh?
Perhaps we should ask Matthew Stafford, Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, and Kyler Murray about that. All great baseball players, and all would tell you that their baseball backgrounds made them better off-platform throwers as quarterbacks.
Look. If there are legitimate concerns about Justin Fields as a draft prospect, by all means, let’s bring them up. But Fields seems to be the latest victim of the Draft Industrial Complex’s need to create stories about prospects, whether there’s any truth to them at all or not.
Fields has his second pro day coming up Wednesday, so we can invariably expect more ridiculous takes after that. Perhaps about the freshness of his breath, or the sincerity of his smile.