Latest News On Justin Fields’ Trade Market Doesn’t Sound Encouraging
On the surface, it feels like Justin Fields has done enough to garner legitimate attention from the NFL on the trade market. He’s still only 24 years old, is a superior athlete, has a great arm, and flashed enough progress last year to make someone think he might be salvageable. If Sam Darnold can fetch a 2nd round pick and two Day 3 picks, Fields should get more. At one point in time, it felt as if his market was hot enough to wonder if somebody might give up a 1st rounder for him. Things have changed considerably over the past few weeks.
Multiple insiders have come forward in the past 24 hours, indicating the offers for Fields from other teams have been less than ideal. Jeff Hughes from Da Bears Blog and Diana Russini of The Athletic are two of them.
The general belief is that Chicago could fetch a 2nd round pick and a Day 3 pick for Fields. Based on these comments, one can safely guess other teams are reluctant to go that high, preferring to keep it in the 3rd round range. Part of this might be driven by some teams believing they have alternatives coming in free agency, headlined by guys like Kirk Cousins and Baker Mayfield. Russell Wilson also might get released. Why trade draft capital for Fields when it would only take money to land those guys?
Chicago is rumored to have offers on the table for Justin Fields.
Atlanta and Pittsburgh are the two teams said to be the most involved. The question at hand is how desperate the Bears are to move Fields now. GM Ryan Poles said he wants to do right by the quarterback if they do decide to trade him, which would mean finding him a new home as quickly as possible. Still, Poles has a responsibility to get the best possible compensation. He can’t give Fields away for pennies. Adam Schefter said the ballpark is somewhere between two 2nd round picks (Alex Smith) and a 2nd, 5th, and 6th round picks (Darnold).
By the sound of things, no teams have entered that range yet. Chicago could decide to wait out the free agent market, seeing what happens with those three names. Depending on where they fall could increase the sense of urgency from other teams to make a move for Justin Fields, knowing their odds of landing a prominent name in the draft are remote. One thing we know for sure is Poles isn’t the type to get flustered in these situations. If there is a favorable deal to be made, he will find it.