A Second Team Is Reportedly Gearing Up For A Run At Justin Fields

This week, one prominent insider, Jordan Schultz of The Score, revealed that the Atlanta Falcons were preparing for a possible push to trade for Justin Fields. Nobody was shocked by that news. The organization resides in the quarterback’s home state and employs the former GM who drafted him. The Chicago Bears have to determine whether other teams are interested. They likely got their first idea at the Senior Bowl last month. Now, word has started leaking about that.

Tony Pauline of Sportskeedia revealed a second team plans to explore a move in the coming weeks.

“There’s another team that I’m told has genuine interest in acquiring Fields and will exploring trading for him: the Las Vegas Raiders.

Jimmy Garoppolo, who the team signed to a three-year, $67.5-million deal just last year, is on his way out and is expected to be cut by the organization. Garoppolo was the choice of Josh McDaniels and never panned out, playing just seven games last season. He was eventually replaced by rookie Aidan O’Connell, who presently sits at the top of the depth chart. O’Connell seems to be the choice of Antonio Pierce, who had the “interim” tag removed from his title a few weeks ago and was named head coach after a successful tenure taking over for McDaniels.

Yet sources tell me Tom Telesco, named as the team’s general manager on January 23, wants a big name at the quarterback position. The fact that the organization signed former Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy will make the transition easier for Fields.”

This idea isn’t a hard sell either.

Forget the Getsy connection. Las Vegas is in a serious quandary. They have no clear starter on the roster. With the 13th pick in the draft, they also don’t have any prayer of landing the top three or four quarterbacks on the board as well. Not unless they move up, and that would be far more expensive than acquiring Fields. Their only other hope is signing one of the top free agents like Kirk Cousins or Baker Mayfield. However, nobody would consider the Raiders one of the preferred landing spots.

Sending Justin Fields to the Bears makes sense for Chicago.

Remember, the team just played the Raiders this past season. So the two aren’t going to cross paths again for another few years since Vegas is in the AFC. From Fields’ perspective, the Bears wouldn’t have to worry about revenge games. Also, he’d be stuck in the same division as Patrick Mahomes. So, his chances of making any huge impact from a team perspective would be unlikely. That might sound cold-hearted, but teams think about these kinds of things. Ryan Poles knows the risk he’d be taking by sending Fields elsewhere. It would be a bad look if the QB flourished.

All things aside, having more than one team involved in the Justin Fields chase is good for the Bears. It improves their chances of landing a quality draft pick. Most assumptions have them getting a 2nd rounder, maybe with an additional Day 3 pick. If the market grows, that package could get even larger. The Raiders have more draft capital than Atlanta, but the Falcons have more valuable picks. That could create an interesting back-and-forth negotiation for Poles.