Insider warns teams about trading for Bears' Justin Fields

Chicago Bears insider Adam Jahns of The Athletic mentioned in a piece published Wednesday that any team that gives "up something to get" Bears quarterback Justin Fields ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft will likely want to pick up the fifth-year option for 2025 worth an estimated $23.3M attached to Fields' contract. 

"Fields' numbers tell you not to pick up his fifth-year option for the 2025 season," Jahns added. "Among qualified QBs, Fields finished the 2023 season 29th in completion percentage, 23rd in passing yards per game, 22nd in passer rating, 24th in QBR, 26th in adjusted net yards per attempt, 31st in sack percentage and 22nd in interception rate (according to Pro Football Reference). His numbers on third downs, in the fourth quarter and in late-game situations don’t inspire much confidence, either." 

Jahns shared his take the same day that Courtney Cronin and Field Yates of ESPN reported that "several sources around the NFL suggested" that the Bears could receive picks in the second and fourth rounds of this year's draft in return for Fields. Analysts throughout the football community have predicted that Chicago will use the draft's No. 1 overall selection to take USC star signal-caller Caleb Williams, a move that would make Fields surplus to requirements for what's been his only NFL home since the spring of 2021. 

According to StatMuse, only Baltimore Ravens starter Lamar Jackson has rushed for more regular-season yards since Week 1 of the 2021 campaign (2,352) than Fields (2,220). While Jackson is now a two-time Most Valuable Player, some still question if he can defeat the likes of Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes on the biggest stages in January and February. Fields isn't nearly as accomplished as Jackson and could prove to be a costly one-year rental if a team doesn't pick up his option. 

Per Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post, Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Kurt Warner recently remarked that a team had "better know that he’s the guy" before that club gives a quarterback significant money that goes beyond the first four years of a rookie deal. Any organization that trades both a second- and fourth-round draft choice to get Fields will almost certainly exercise his fifth-year option by the May 2 deadline. 

As Dunleavy noted, the Carolina Panthers exercised the fifth-year option for quarterback Sam Darnold shortly after they acquired him from the New York Jets in April 2021. Darnold lost the Carolina starting job to Baker Mayfield in the summer of 2022 and signed with the San Francisco 49ers as a free agent last offseason to serve as their backup.