After months of speculation and rumors about what the Chicago Bears would do with star quarterback Justin Fields, the team made a move that no one saw coming by trading the 25-year-old to the Pittsburgh Steelers to be Russell Wilson’s backup.
Once NFL free agency got underway last week, many expected Fields to get moved to a team that was desperately seeking to upgrade the quarterback position with a young star of his caliber, but a lot of the teams he was linked to seemed to pass on the trading for him.
That said, the Bears seemed to do what they could when the trade market dried up for a starting-caliber quarterback and took a sixth-round pick in exchange for their starting quarterback, which will pave the way for Chicago to select USC superstar Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall on April 25.
Interestingly enough, the Bears claim they got a ton of interest in Fields’ services, but he wanted to end up in Pittsburgh, which seems a bit strange considering he’ll be the backup right out of the gate and could be stuck on the bench if Wilson can resurrect his career with the Steelers.
Colin Cowherd of FOX Sports believes Fields should’ve wanted to join the Los Angeles Rams before Jimmy Garoppolo landed there, via The Volume.
Cowherd also mentioned the San Francisco 49ers as another destination that would have been intriguing.
“If I was Justin Fields, I was praying [Sean] McVay wouldn’t take [Jimmy] Garoppolo. He’d take me. I was praying [Sam] Darnold goes to Minnesota, and maybe [Kyle] Shanahan says ‘get over here for a year.’”
“He better start fast”
—@ColinCowherd and @JohnMiddlekauff discuss Justin Fields and Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/4rnAQRtnxH
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) March 18, 2024
As Cowherd mentions, it would be interesting to know what other teams were interested in Fields’ services before he was ultimately traded to the Steelers for basically nothing.
It’s safe to assume there might’ve been a better place for him that would give him a chance to play right away or play in a system that would be better for his skill set.
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