The Bears faced a similar scenario this past March and opted to trade the No. 1 pick of the 2023 NFL Draft to the Panthers for multiple picks and wide receiver D.J. Moore, giving Fields at least one more year and giving themselves more resources to build their infrastructure with. Chicago needed to be blown away by a quarterback to select one in the 2023 draft and instead traded the pick.
Sources say it’s the same view heading into the 2024 draft. The Bears would need to be blown away by a rookie QB to move on from Fields three years after selecting him No. 11 overall in the 2021 draft.
What does Fields need to show in order to remain Chicago’s QB1?
Sources offered insight into the decision, noting that this year’s roster is stronger and more developed than last year’s. In other words, it presents the opportunity for a much fairer evaluation of Fields.
Here’s what the organization wants to see: Is this a QB who can win multiple championships? Can he be consistent enough, especially in key moments like red-zone and two-minute offense? Can he execute with the game on the line? Can he avoid turning the ball over and keep drives going?
All standard ways organizations generally evaluate signal-callers.
There have been times in Fields’ career during which it looked like there were attempts to turn him into more of a pocket passer. The hope down the stretch is he plays his game, running when necessary and using his legs to create. That’s when Fields becomes a game-breaker.
Life becomes easier for the organization if Fields can thrive because then they don’t need to start over with a new quarterback and can simply build around Fields to win. These next batch of games will help determine that.
This week, head coach Matt Eberflus was asked what he saw of Fields at practice.
“I thought he got his footwork back where it needed to be,” the coach said, “And I thought the accuracy was good, got better as the week went. I thought he was good.”
First appeared on www.nfl.com