Quarterback. It’s the heart and soul of a football team. Always had been, but the position takes on even greater significance in today’s day and age of slinging the ball around much more than when teams wore leather helmets and had pads as wide automobile fenders.
So, it’s no surprise that the NFL draft sees a slew of signal-callers go early and often on an annual basis. Find yourself a franchise quarterback and you can turn a team’s fortunes around almost instantly.
Enter former Ohio State gunslinger Justin Fields. He was taken later than most people thought in last year’s draft at No. 11, but the Chicago Bears might be the benefactor in trading up. Overall, the former Heisman finalist was the fourth quarterback taken in the draft.
It may be a few years before we really know whether Fields is a value pick or not, but we will get to see some things instantly during his rookie season. And that’s where NFL.com’s Cynthia Frelund comes in. She has projected the top five rookie performing quarterbacks for the upcoming NFL season, and she has Fields showing better than his draft position based on analytic-driven numbers.