The Chicago Bears just traded quarterback Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a sixth round pick, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday night.
I’m baffled by this move on so many fronts.
Bears are trading Justin Fields for a 2025 6th-round pick that goes to a 4th-round pick based on playtime, per sources. pic.twitter.com/E7JY7K60Wn
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 16, 2024
First, there’s Chicago, who I have no doubt could have gotten more for Fields whether it was on draft day, or when another team’s QB went down in training camp.
Then there’s the Steelers, who just brought in Russell Wilson to be their starter and traded away former first-round pick Kenny Pickett. (RELATED: Russell Wilson Announces He’s Signing With Pittsburgh Steelers)
Oddly enough, the Steelers got more for Pickett than they had to give up for Fields.
Pittsburgh turned their QB room from Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph into Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, all for only one sixth round pick and $1.2 million.
The 2025 sixth rounder they gave up will turn into a fourth rounder if Fields plays 51 percent of their snaps, according to Schefter, though that seems unlikely as Schefter also reported Wilson will be the starter.
Steelers QB Russell Wilson will start in Pittsburgh and Justin Fields will back him up, a team source told ESPN’s @bepryor.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 16, 2024
It’s hard to look at this deal as anything other than highway robbery committed by Pittsburgh. I also can’t help but thinking how many other teams would have been better off making this move at such a low cost.
I loved the Kirk Cousins signing for Atlanta but they spent $180 million on a starting caliber QB when Fields was just sitting there, ripe for the taking. Or how about my New York Giants, who brought in Drew Lock to (maybe) push Daniel Jones for the starting job. At this asking price I would have loved to see the Giants make a run at Fields.
The move undoubtedly sets the stage for Chicago to select a QB with the first overall pick in April’s 2024 draft and all signs point to that QB being USC’s Caleb Williams. After bringing in running back DeAndre Swift and trading for star receiver Keenan Allen, the stage is set in Chicago for him to be great.