By Matt Stuart | Published | No Comments
These are dark times for young quarterbacks in the League that have not clearly and decisively grabbed the starting quarterback job and nailed the shutters closed on any potential winds of change blowing in. Desmond Ridder of the Falcons, Aidan O’Connell of the Raiders, Mac Jones of the Patriots, Daniel Jones of the Giants, Sam Howell of the Commanders, Baker Mayfield of the Buccaneers, and even Geno Smith of the Seahawks, could all see their teams draft what could, eventually, become their replacements.
Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields could be the first domino to fall as we approach the offseason. Chicago will have the number one pick in April’s draft, and Fields has had a lackluster start to his NFL career. While he has shown glimpses of the massive potential and upside that he could bring to the Bears as their longterm franchise quarterback, he has not been able to put it all together for the course of an entire season. Though he came tantalizingly close this season.
The question is, how much longer can the Bears afford to wait for Fields overall potential and massive upside, to catch up with his week to week on field results. Teams normally like to know if their young quarterback is their future by the end of their third year, That’s because a decision as to whether that team is going to pick up a fifth year option on a player drafted in the first round has to be made during the off-season, after the players third year in the league.
The Bears have until May 2, 2024 to decide on Fields fifth year option. It’s not a minor, or otherwise insignificant decision. If a team passes on a rookie’s fifth year option, it means that rookie can become an unrestricted free agent at the end of their fourth year. That means, that unless a long term deal is reached, that rookie player can walk and with no restrictions or compensation (compensatory draft picks) being paid back to the team that drafted that player.
On the other hand, if the Bears do pick up Fields fifth year option for the 2025 season, they will be on the hook for every last penny, even if Fields bottoms out next season and is no longer their starting quarterback of choice for the 2024 or 2025 season.
Such was the case for the Cleveland Brown, when they picked up Baker Mayfield’s fifth year option, one season before the team lost faith in the fifth year starter and infamously tried to jettison him for Deshaun Watkins. Mayfield was still owed just over $15 million from the Browns, all of it guaranteed. This became a slight problem for the Browns when they attempted to trade Mayfield, as they did not want to be on the hook for his salary. In the end, Mayfield was traded to the Carolina Panthers and Carolina ended up picking up some of the money that the Browns owed Mayfield.
The Bears have an unenviable decision waiting on them once this season draws to a close. They can keep Fields for at least one more year, declining his fifth year option. They could pick up Fields fifth year option and let him play out the next two seasons of his rookie deal. They could sign Fields in the offseason to a new, long term contract, or they could trade Fields. The first two options on the list would be safe options at least in the short term for Chicago. The Bears could still use their top pick to take a quarterback and then let that player sit for a year behind Fields.
Even if the Bears pick up Fields option, they could still trade him after the 2024 season and would more than likely still get a first round pick back. That could be looked at as a win/win for the Bears.
The third option is of course to settle all of this once and for all. Give Fields a long term deal, stand behind your future signal caller and get to work using all that draft capital to build the best team they can around Fields. Fields has shown marked improvement this season after Chicago paired him with elite wide receiver D.J. Moore. The Bears could add yet another elite wide out in this year’s upcoming draft.
The Bears have two first round picks, the overall top pick that they received from Carolina, and of course their own first round pick, which at the moment, heading into the final game of the regular season, would be the tenth overall pick.
The Bears faith will be tested this off season one way or another. Do they put their faith in the quarterback that has made some progress each of the last two seasons, or do they put their faith in one of the highly touted prospects expected to declare for the draft. Either way, the Bears are running out of time. This may be their best and possibly last chance to get it right and set the franchise back on a course of true relevancy for the future.
The question is, do the Bears believe in Justin Fields!
