NFL News: Justin Fields Traded to Pittsburgh to Back Up Russell Wilson by Grant Winsauer
Ian Rapoport reported this past Saturday that Justin Fields had been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers as Russel Wilson’s backup.
The trade netted a 2025 sixth-round pick for the Bears that could turn into a fourth-round pick if Fields plays 51 percent of the snaps this upcoming season. I like this for both the Steelers and Fields for a few reasons. I like this for the Steelers because if Wilson goes down with an injury or struggles during the season, Mike Tomlin and the team can turn to Fields to see if he would produce better. It’s suitable for Fields because he can learn from and pick the brain of Wilson, who has been to the Super Bowl twice while winning one.
I expected the Bears to make this move because they lucked into getting the first overall pick from Carolina after trading down from No. 1 to No. 9 in 2023. Ryan Poles knew he couldn’t do that two years in a row. If there is anything the Bears’ GM knows how to do, it’s scouting a quarterback. Before becoming the GM of the Bears, Poles helped the Kansas City Chiefs draft stud quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Poles has the chance to bring in his version of Mahomes for the Bears.
I am okay with the Bears moving on from Fields because, according to ESPN.com, he has never had over 2,600 passing yards. I don’t think it was all his fault because we didn’t surround him with enough talent until last year when the Bears added D.J. Moore.
People say that Fields failed the Bears when the Bears failed Fields. When he was drafted in 2021, Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy left Chicago. They just hoped Fields could save their jobs, and that didn’t happen. When Poles took over, he had to tear down the roster to get the Bears out of salary cap hell, so they didn’t have money to surround him with talent. Then, in the second year of the Poles’ rebuild, they built up the defense and only added minor pieces to the offense, like Byron Pringle and Lucas Patrick. Finally, this past year, they tried to add more pieces to the offense so Fields could be successful and be the Bears' franchise quarterback, but he didn’t do enough for that to be the case.
I want to thank Fields for giving it everything he had the past three years in Chicago, and Bears fans will always be cheering for you.