The Chicago Bears have an important decision to make this offseason at quarterback: Stick with Justin Fields or take a rookie, presumably Caleb Williams, with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
Most draft experts and insiders will tell you it should be a no-brainer for general manager Ryan Poles: Draft the potential generational talent at No. 1 and trade Fields.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, like other insiders, believes Chicago will draft Williams, which led to him discussing a potential deadline for the Bears to get the best value in a trade of Fields — and it’s coming up rather soon.
I’d say better than even odds that the Chicago Bears take Caleb Williams first—and the clock is ticking on making that decision, believe it or not. If Chicago wants to extract the best value it can for Justin Fields, it’d be preferable to get the process of finding a trade partner off the ground between now and the beginning of March.
Once the league year starts, quarterback spots across the NFL will start to fill up. Kirk Cousins will decide on a home. Baker Mayfield will, too. And so will scores of others. So if the Bears drag their feet on this, they could miss the market at the position.
That’s why I’d bet that Fields could be moved around the time of the NFL Scouting Combine or so … if I were a betting man.
If Chicago opts to trade Fields, teams that might be interested include the Atlanta Falcons, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos.
Outside of the Patriots, those other teams aren’t in a position to draft one of the top three quarterbacks, so they could be looking to add an explosive playmaker in Fields to the roster.
It’s definitely something worth monitoring heading into the NFL Scouting Combine, which runs from Feb. 29 to March 3. It’s worth noting that Poles said he was going to take this decision right up to April, when some of those teams might have already made their moves at quarterback. Free agency begins on March 13.