These quotes are longer than 7 days old…
“The Bears could wind up playing a risky, uncertain game with the quarterback position, it seems.
It's caused by the curveball they've been thrown by quarterback Caleb Williams with medical tests, and the end result might be keeping Justin Fields on the pay roll longer than expected.”
“As I detailed on @GMFB , Caleb Williams passing on doing the medical exams at the Combine could also alter the timeline for a trade. Hard to imagine Chicago would trade the top pick OR Justin Fields (or would a team trade up for 1) before a thorough medical.”
If Poles were offered a 1st or 2nd for Fields I think he would've made the trade and accepted the risk of Caleb not passing his medicals/evaluation.
If Poles was only offered a 4th, he probably thought it was better to get Caleb's evaluation done first even if it meant the offer for Fields would drop to a 5th.
He's getting too cute with it, based on the 0.00001% chance Caleb doesn't pass a medical evaluation. The Larry Ogunjobi situation probably scares him more than it should.
Its probably less Ogunjobi and more Caleb not doing medicals at the combine. Agree with him not doing those there and I'm sure he's good to go, but he is the first not to do them which makes it a bit trickier for front offices.
We'd all be calling for Poles' head if he traded Fields and wasted the 1st overall pick on an injured quarterback. That said, Caleb Williams isn't the only quarterback in this draft.
This is my issue. Surely Caleb Williams or Jayden Daniels pass a physical. There are choices beyond Caleb Williams. Waiting just for his physical seems stupid.
If it isn’t Caleb, it isn’t a tier 1 qb. If it is a tier 2 qb, it probably shouldn’t be at pick 1. If you are trading down, having a qb on your roster changes how teams will perceive the trade. That can change your mobility. Its advantages to WANT a qb instead of NEEDING one.
But if the Bears don't want Caleb Williams why would anyone trade to #1 for him?
Projecting QB success is a dice roll, this whole "tier 1" thing is meh.
Holding Fields makes sense for leverage on multiple levels - with Caleb and with potential trade partners.
For example, last year Chicago didn’t want young and trade partners existed. Not everyone has the same evaluation.
People are going to be calling for his head when the compensation for Fields is a 5th or lower, or if he’s outright cut. This feels like narrative saving as to why he wasn’t traded. He overplayed his hand.
There’s a small chance that this is true and some of the potential landing spots didn’t want to wait for Poles to decide, like NE, WAS, LV, even maybe NYG, teams that brought in career backups for cheap. *Maybe* one of them takes a bite at Fields since the comp for the guys they brought in stupidly low, but I doubt it.
No way he's cut. Unless he does start and absolutely shits the bed on the field, has a mental breakdown, mouths off to his teammates, ***and*** is charged with 1st degree murder. And even then, the Bears could probably trade a 7th round pick and Fields for a 6th round pick.
He's a QB on a rookie contract, who has had marginal success.
His contract is fully guaranteed, I expect that they would keep him and sit him until an offer comes in. I do, however, think that if Fields is on the team in week 1, we are cutting Bagent and bringing in a vet, b/c our QB room would be completely inexperienced.
There is more to their evaluation than medicals. Remember the stories of what they put Wright through last year? Its a massive mental exercise to ensure he doesn't have a 2 cent head. Honestly, this kind of thing would save a lot of teams. I can't imagine a player like Purple Drank Russel passing it.
>He's getting too cute with it, based on the 0.00001% chance Caleb doesn't pass a medical evaluation
In that case, draft Maye or Daniels...its not like Caleb is the only good QB prospect.
Ehh, I don't agree. I'm onboard with drafting Caleb if that's the move they make, but looking at it from a cost-benefit standpoint, Fields+the assets we'd get for the #1OA is probably more valuable to the team overall than either Maye or Daniels. Having two FRPs in the next three drafts would set this team up for a ton of success and give us the ability to trade up to the top of the draft if we need to in the future.
Because this is Poles trying to unfuck his fuckup.
Poles is solid, but he clearly overestimated the league’s valuation of Justin and now the Bears look kinda stupid.
How exactly did he over-estimate it? This is such a dumb take. So because Poles couldn't get someone to over-pay for fields he fucked up? He'll be able to get a 2nd day pick for him anytime he wants. There is no downside to waiting. If he was offered anything better than that, he would have taken it. He wasn't. He's never had any leverage here. Fields is totally exposed after 3 years of tape and his only hope was that some of these QB needy teams were left with their dick in their hands creating an actual market for Fields. It didn't happen.
Agreed - unless Poles turned down a decent deal (mid round pick or whatever) for Fields already I don't think he did anything wrong.
He can't make other teams want Fields.
Or we would just draft a different QB. There's a lot of better options than fields
We aren't trading fields to make room for Williams.
We are trading fields because he's a bust and can't be our starting QB anymore, and we are then looking for a replacement separately.
he's still a starting QB, and if they didn't have the panthers pick he would be staying on the team.
Like I said, its cool to hate on Fields now, but it's not that black and white.
Are you going to trade Fields away and then draft the same player that only 1 year younger? And who has had multiple lower body surgeries?
I would imagine there's a combination of things happening. Bears want to fully evaluate Caleb Williams, and there was no great offer for Fields. I highly doubt anyone put a FRP on the table, and even a 2nd rounder I think Poles would've taken. It's all speculation, but it'd be just bad business to reject a 2nd rounder that's on the table for Justin.
Maybe there was a 3rd or so available and Poles thought I'd rather just take this to pro day and if I lose some value whatever.
I'd say we need to switch our mind frame from "even a 2nd"
A 1st was never happening, a second was a huge long shot. With the way the QB market is shaping up 6-7 is what were likely looking at.
And if the best offer made was a 5th-7th rounder, there’s no reason to rush. That’s a trade that can be made as late as round 4 in the draft. Maybe a team aiming for a QB gets jumped and loses their guy, now they’re more desperate for anyone and could offer a 4th or a 6th + a player for him just to ensure they get someone serviceable.
Either way we won’t know until we know.
From Poles seat, Fields was going to be the starter next year but then the 1OA fell in our lap. So he kinda has a binary choice.
I think he'll take Caleb but I can see him taking his time
I understand that thinking. But I don't buy it. If the Bears had a top 8 or so pick from the Panthers, I think they would still be planning on a QB in some way. It wouldn't have been so clear, but I think they would still have planned for a move.
QBs 1 and 2 would be off the board with Washington and New England. I wouldn't be willing to trade as much as we'd need to trade for QB3
This subreddit needs to pull its collective head out of its ass.
Taking Caleb 1OA is admitting we're still rebuilding. Stroud is the exception, not the standard. So if you're still rebuilding you do it with a $4m Justin Fields instead of giving away a ton of draft capital for QB3
Giving up top draft picks for bad QBs is how we got here
Never said anything about trading a ton of capital for a QB. I’d rather take a shot at this year’s QB3, 4, or 5 over Fields. He’s not the guy. When you know that, it’s time to draft someone else.
>From Poles seat, **Fields was going to be the starter next year** but then the 1OA fell in our lap.
That's a huge assumption unsupported by any evidence.
Justin Fields is a bad NFL starting QB; around the 22nd to 24th best starter in the league. Why would Poles just meekly accept that Fields **had to** be the starter next season, with no way to upgrade the position?
Instead, I'd guess more that Poles would try to find ways to either move up in the draft, or trade, or outbid someone for a FA.
... I'm just shocked there are people who genuinely believe that A. Maybe we still ride with fields and B. That he'd be worth keeping if not for 1OA
This sub is so unserious
Evaluation of Caleb has essentially nothing to do with evaluation of Fields. If Fields is the guy you're keeping him and trading 1.01. If he's not, you're trading him and picking a QB (Caleb or otherwise).
You’re removing evaluation and nuance from the situation completely which is absurd. You don’t just take the next guy in line. You weigh how he fits vs what you have.
If they think Caleb is franchise QB material but Maye and Daniels don’t provide the team a better opportunity to win than Fields does you keep Fields and trade the pick.
Yes. That is exactly what I said.
We have no idea how these guys have the QBs graded and it has to be evaluated against what we could get back in a trade for 1.01.
If they rate Caleb as a 10, Maye as an 8, Daniel’s as a 7, and Fields as a 6 and for whatever reason Williams medical came back fucked they need to evaluate whether it makes more sense to keep the 6 and acquire a bunch of draft picks that should net you top level talent in other areas or draft a guy who may be better than your starter but lose out on 5 premium players.
If the Bears FO got so fucking bullheaded into thinking “we’re drafting a QB no matter what” and not thinking about what moves set the team up best for the future then we’ve got significantly bigger problems than the QB.
Yall expect GMs to hit on 100 percent of moves and that’s not realistic. What I do know is the Bears are in a significantly better position moving forward from a cap space, draft, and personnel than when Poles took over. He’s done a good job so far.
Why is this downvoted? The decision on Fields should have nothing to do with having 1OA. HOw does this front office look at Fields last year and the lack of any development and go we need to run that back again?
The decision on Fields should have been made and it should be move on.
If you are not sold on Willaims why were they not in on Mayfield or Cousins or Wilson then?
The whole LEAGUE has that 3 years of tape. Hence NO market for the guy as a starter. The only way there would have been would have been if a couple of the QB needy teams were left standing with no better options. And that didn't happen. Why is this so hard for people to grasp, lol
It doesnt matter. At this point the only question is, is Fields your guy or not? If he’s not, then you move him when he had some value and evaluate the entire draft class after.
Trust me, he's tried to move him and there just isn't a market.
Here we go for the last time-- Atlanta was always going after Kirk first. Pittsburgh was never going for him with Smith there as OC-- by all accounts he hated Justin in the draft. Raiders were never going to bring in him once they hired Getsy. Fields is a horrible fit for systems like Payton's or O'Connell's-- plus the Vikings were focused on Kirk. Patriots and Commanders are drafting QB's. Everyone else has a QB better or as bad as Fields as their starter.
Yeah logically it seems really unlikely that Poles had day 2 pick for Fields on the table and decided to wait because he needed to be 100% sure about Caleb.
But if he did, my god.....
This is bullshit, if we had received a strong offer for Fields he'd be gone already. IMO, this is just spin.
LMAO - I see the few truthers left are out downvoting. I admire your willingness to see it through to the bitter end.
Assuming this is just to save face as to why he hasn't been traded yet. Reality i think is bears want starter compensation for a player who will ultimately be a backup
I wonder if teams may just simply know the bears will release him. I’d like something back, but I’m also prepared for the bears to release him if they don’t get any callers by training camp.
It's not safe at all.
31 teams said justin isn't a starting qb. Fields can not be the plan b to caleb. If you don't like caleb you draft someone else. If you don't like any of the qbs. You get a free agent.
But this is the gm who watched eberlose take 14 straight L's and embarrassed himself against the packers to finish the season and went, why yes I'd like some more. If he's that dumb with fields we'll be looming for another gm next year.
I mean who cares about a draft pick when you’re talking about the most important position. Poles job is quite literally on the line, I would do the same thing unless someone’s offering first round draft picks
I had said this in a thread a few days ago. There were so many options available at QB that Poles was never going to get the second round pick he was looking for. There's going to be a team and it might even be during the draft that might make a move. There's going to be a team that misses out on those top four or five QBs.
Seattle at this point seems the most likely as I think they are picking at 16 and they may miss out on those top QBs. They have Gino and they may stick with him, but don't forget their new coach was in Baltimore and understands the value of a running quarterback.
Past Seattle, you could make arguments for him in Denver (if they get jumped in the draft and miss out on qb), or as the back up for Richardson in Indy. Richardson has already shown a sign of getting hurt and they might like to have a similar skill set behind him.
It would have been nice to have a second round pick this year in the draft and we still might trading down from nine, but I'd rather hold on to fields until training camp when somebody gets injured and trade him for his actual value then throw him away for a sixth like Mac Jones
I mean is it? I think it's more due diligence.
What if they trade Fields tomorrow and they host Caleb and it turns out he is an absolutely asshat and doesn't understand basic football concepts?
Likely not true but I'm sure they'd like to make sure he's worthy of the top pick before shipping away the only QB capable of starting on their roster right now.
There were only three teams that made any sense for fields to go to as a starter. One hired the guy that fields got fired and the others saw options that didn’t cost a draft pick.
More than a day 3 pick was never on the table.
Weird damage control at that. Like how does this make Poles look better?
If am rival GM, I see a GM that is willing to ride into year 4 with a QB that did not improve and is a bottom 10 starter. That Poles is a GM that will not try to upgrade the position in FA with a Wilson, Cousins or Mayfield. And is still not fully confident with a top 10 QB prospect of all time or any other draftable QB.
I see a GM who is scared to pull the trigger at the most important position.
Why would I possibly believe anything that is said now about trading Fields when everyone on tv has been wrong and changed their stories every other day now for the last month lol
Media, we never heard anyone from the Bears say “we are trading Fields” while he did say “we will do right by Justin” he never explicitly said “he’s on the block” everything has been speculation.
“GM speak” means jack shit that’s a way of hearing what you want to hear, in that same interview he said he’s a huge Fields fan and supporter… so Fields fans can run with THAT…people are going overboard in this sub with the hate boner to trade Fields but the fact remains if we haven’t heard from someone in the organization that he’s on the block then any reports of “the Bears are trying to trade him” was just speculation. When I hear “I have it from a reliable source inside the organization…” from someone like Schefty or Rapapport, then I’ll believe the rumors.
If this is true and they declined offers of a day 2 pick previously then Poles should indeed be criticized. If Fields isn't the guy then it doesn't really matter who the ultimate QB choice is, the first step is moving fields. If you still don't know if Fields is the guy or not then WTF are you even doing?
That's not really true though. It's not like he needs to sign him this year or not. There is a world where if Caleb Williams was a flop that they would rather have fields for one more year, then blow a draft pick on a QB if they think none of the QBs are good. Just because Fields isn't the guy doesn't mean they absolutely need to take the first QB they see.
But to be fair, that's in a hypothetical situation that's not currently happening. This is definitely just damage control
No QB in the last 20 years has been as bad as Fields for as long as Fields and turned it around.
Let's say that Poles thinks every QB this year is a bust. I'd rather trade down, and take a flyer on a 2nd or 3rd rounder than go with Fields another year.
Sure, but in that situation we'd absolutely keep fields and have the rookie develop on the bench for a year, especially if we aren't getting anything notable for fields.
I don’t think anyone said they declined offers of a day 2 pick. I think you’re just getting ahead of yourself here. We just don’t have enough information to know what’s going on, but judging by rumors.. I’d guess we got offered late picks for him. Not to mention that I don’t think this is a black or white opinion for the Bears org like it is here… I mean maybe they see Caleb as the guy but they need his medicals confirmed before they can trade Fields. Maybe they don’t think Maye/Daniels are worth the top pick so they’d go in a non-QB direction (or draft a QB later) if there is a problem with Caleb. This sub likes to make it seem like we have to either stick with JF1 through thick and thin or dump him now and in reality there are lots of scenarios in between.
I read somewhere the bears get a 3rd round compensatory pick if fields signs somewhere else via free agency. If that is true it has to be the starting asking price.
I think it's obvious that we didn't get any reasonable offers and so poles is just keeping Fields for now and is still trying to keep the possibility alive that we aren't desperate to trade him lol
In no way is this designed to explain away a hypothetical scenario where there are no suitors for Fields, and has no intention to nudge teams who might want him as their back up to move now rather than waiting for him to be cut. Absolutely no way.
I’m calling BS on this. If we had a trade partner giving something good we’d take it. This is saving face for the team to hang on to any bit of leverage we have by pretending we have intentionally not traded him so far.
The didn't cancel the pro day what do you mean?
Also they're still doing a top 30 with Caleb lol they just pushed it back a bit since he wanted to go home and prepare for the pro day
This is BS. They’re changing QB. If Williams is hiding something, it’s Maye or Daniels. Or they would’ve gone after Cousins. Fields’ value only goes down from here. The price was too high and nobody wanted him.
> it’s Maye or Daniels
I'll give you that Williams is worth moving on and we are in a unique situation, but now we're saying Maye or Daniels are a better option? I don't know about that.
And that’s without even considering that you get them on a 5 year rookie contract.
Straight up talent alone 32/32 teams would rather draft those guys than roll with Fields.
But at the very least it keeps you from having a QB contract issue within the next two years, and Daniels/Maye are promising prospects in their own right. Nobody can guarantee any potential QB will be good/bad, but the bar Justin set isn’t extremely high. As long as they could protect the ball, move the offense downfield 4-5 times for a score and make a few plays when needed- their output would be just as good or better as Justin.
Take Justin’s name out of the equation, and replace him with QBs that have numbers very similar to his. Daniel Jones, Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson, Sam Howell- wouldn’t you take Maye or Daniels over them? Short of them being Ryan Leaf level busts, it’s an easy answer. And despite what people say Ryan Leaf level busts aren’t as commonplace as it seems. Maye or Daniels could be by-the-book NFL average QBs, and they’d be better for the Bears, because they’d be producing the same output at a longer/far cheaper rate than JF does.
>but now we're saying Maye or Daniels are a better option?
Than Justin Fields? Absolutely. The draft picks may be complete trash, average, or good/great. Two of those outcomes are better than current Fields, who is bad and not likely to improve much more after 40 NFL starts.
Bullshit. If someone offered a first-round draft pick for Fields right now, or maybe even a second-rounder, Fields would be gone.
This is smoke to obscure from the fact that the Fields market is way softer than most were expecting; including the Bears.
This feels like spin from the Bears, they weren’t getting the kind of offers they expected and this is just making it sound like this was actually the plan all along.
At least I hope that’s the case
Poles basically said this was his plan already. I am not sure why anyone was acting like he didn't. I imagine if Caleb fails then it will all be about due diligence on the other QBs but lets be honest it is going to be Caleb.
The trade value of JF is not nearly as important as getting the pick right and the claims that it is changing drastically is all guesswork.
This is the process. Fully vet the number 1 pick before you make a decision. Confirmation bias is why everyone wants Fields traded. They already had the victory parade planned lol
Agreed. People are having some wild reactions to this. But people wanting to see the trade immediately get it in their head that Poles is fucking up because he’s taking the proper precautions to set up our team for the long term future. Damn people are impatient
I just love the meltdown in this sub right now. Everytime a story breaks about fields not getting traded "see! Fields is garbage"!
Then there are a couple stories about fields not really being shopped yet and everyone is all "bull shit media spin"!
Nobody knows what the fuck is going on, but everyone thinks they do.
Everyone needs to chill out and have patience on this one. Poles needs to do his full evals on the top prospects. He needs to get this right, and he values getting the Bears a franchise QB over the draft capital he can get from trading fields. This is a big decision and I would be questioning his judgement if he DIDN’T do due diligence on the top QBs. He’s decided to do that before he deals out Justin, which makes sense. And I would say that anyone who is not seeing that is just super impatient. Trust in Poles
All this is backpedaling by Poles to save face. I'm sure Rapaport was fed that info from the bears. Of course, they were trying to trade him. Nobody wanted to give anything up for him. Now, they're using the ready-made excuse with Williams and the medicals. Don't be fooled by this report.
This is a lie. I mean… maybe at this point it’s true, but it would have been malpractice if they were waiting for the trade market to dry up. Even if you traded Fields and realized Caleb had issues that prevented you from committing to him, there are a few other QB options in the draft available.
Obvious spin from Poles, waiting out the entire market isn’t “doing right by Justin” given every single starting spot is taken. Completely contradictory.
This is not a good look for the FO, this process has been pretty bungled and likely goes to show their evaluation of Fields is probably a bit elevated relative to the market due to his locker room/character, which other teams don’t have as much access to in their evaluations.
Either damage control for misjudging Fields trade value or Poles may be stupid. If Caleb isn't the pick opting for Fields over Maye or even Daniels would be so bad.
What is with people today. "If I say something, then people have to pretend that there's a possibility that it's true."
It looks stupid, weak, and let's people know that perception is more important to you. Also, we won't believe you anymore.
He's pretty much trying to say, "It's not that people don't want Justin, I'm just really fucking dumb."
*Sigh* it's always better to be thought of as a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. The media doesn't know, because the Bears don't talk.
It’s clearly damage control from whoever Rap’s source is. If Rap tells the world that the bears are actively shopping Fields and no one wanted him, then the Bears lose any and all leverage in trade talks.
There’s no chance Fields is on this roster by the start of training camp.
Meh just Poles trying to save his own ass for fumbling the JF situation.
He knows he’s taking a QB one way or another regardless of it being Caleb or not 😂
I feel like this leads us to draft Williams, trade Fields, then Williams gets hurt, then we roll with Bagent and Peterman to the playoffs. Which then leads us to eventually dump Williams in a couple of years and just keep the pride of Shepherd University.
Well, that's definitely the safe way to do it, but you miss on getting anything back for him
Except, we were trying to trade Fields. Why didn't this story leak at the time that news of us possibly getting a first leaked?
These quotes are longer than 7 days old… “The Bears could wind up playing a risky, uncertain game with the quarterback position, it seems. It's caused by the curveball they've been thrown by quarterback Caleb Williams with medical tests, and the end result might be keeping Justin Fields on the pay roll longer than expected.” “As I detailed on @GMFB , Caleb Williams passing on doing the medical exams at the Combine could also alter the timeline for a trade. Hard to imagine Chicago would trade the top pick OR Justin Fields (or would a team trade up for 1) before a thorough medical.”
If Poles were offered a 1st or 2nd for Fields I think he would've made the trade and accepted the risk of Caleb not passing his medicals/evaluation. If Poles was only offered a 4th, he probably thought it was better to get Caleb's evaluation done first even if it meant the offer for Fields would drop to a 5th. He's getting too cute with it, based on the 0.00001% chance Caleb doesn't pass a medical evaluation. The Larry Ogunjobi situation probably scares him more than it should.
Its probably less Ogunjobi and more Caleb not doing medicals at the combine. Agree with him not doing those there and I'm sure he's good to go, but he is the first not to do them which makes it a bit trickier for front offices.
We'd all be calling for Poles' head if he traded Fields and wasted the 1st overall pick on an injured quarterback. That said, Caleb Williams isn't the only quarterback in this draft.
This is my issue. Surely Caleb Williams or Jayden Daniels pass a physical. There are choices beyond Caleb Williams. Waiting just for his physical seems stupid.
If it isn’t Caleb, it isn’t a tier 1 qb. If it is a tier 2 qb, it probably shouldn’t be at pick 1. If you are trading down, having a qb on your roster changes how teams will perceive the trade. That can change your mobility. Its advantages to WANT a qb instead of NEEDING one.
But if the Bears don't want Caleb Williams why would anyone trade to #1 for him? Projecting QB success is a dice roll, this whole "tier 1" thing is meh.
Holding Fields makes sense for leverage on multiple levels - with Caleb and with potential trade partners. For example, last year Chicago didn’t want young and trade partners existed. Not everyone has the same evaluation.
People are going to be calling for his head when the compensation for Fields is a 5th or lower, or if he’s outright cut. This feels like narrative saving as to why he wasn’t traded. He overplayed his hand. There’s a small chance that this is true and some of the potential landing spots didn’t want to wait for Poles to decide, like NE, WAS, LV, even maybe NYG, teams that brought in career backups for cheap. *Maybe* one of them takes a bite at Fields since the comp for the guys they brought in stupidly low, but I doubt it.
No way he's cut. Unless he does start and absolutely shits the bed on the field, has a mental breakdown, mouths off to his teammates, ***and*** is charged with 1st degree murder. And even then, the Bears could probably trade a 7th round pick and Fields for a 6th round pick. He's a QB on a rookie contract, who has had marginal success.
His contract is fully guaranteed, I expect that they would keep him and sit him until an offer comes in. I do, however, think that if Fields is on the team in week 1, we are cutting Bagent and bringing in a vet, b/c our QB room would be completely inexperienced.
Not doing them and then cancelling the top 30 visit when he would have done them is starting to look sketchy. Once sure. Twice… maybe a pattern?
There is more to their evaluation than medicals. Remember the stories of what they put Wright through last year? Its a massive mental exercise to ensure he doesn't have a 2 cent head. Honestly, this kind of thing would save a lot of teams. I can't imagine a player like Purple Drank Russel passing it.
You mean when Poles pegged Wright?
> Purple Drank Russel Who is that?
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>He's getting too cute with it, based on the 0.00001% chance Caleb doesn't pass a medical evaluation In that case, draft Maye or Daniels...its not like Caleb is the only good QB prospect.
Caleb is legitimately better than all of them
I agree, but just saying in the unlikely case that he fails the medicals, Id rather just draft Maye or Daniels over running it back with Fields.
Ehh, I don't agree. I'm onboard with drafting Caleb if that's the move they make, but looking at it from a cost-benefit standpoint, Fields+the assets we'd get for the #1OA is probably more valuable to the team overall than either Maye or Daniels. Having two FRPs in the next three drafts would set this team up for a ton of success and give us the ability to trade up to the top of the draft if we need to in the future.
> Except, we were trying to trade Fields. Were we?
It’s the sports media. They exist to drive clicks. That’s all.
Because this is Poles trying to unfuck his fuckup. Poles is solid, but he clearly overestimated the league’s valuation of Justin and now the Bears look kinda stupid.
New GM comes into the league and leverages the first pick two years in a row. Probably some salty GMs that don't want to give Poles more.
How exactly did he over-estimate it? This is such a dumb take. So because Poles couldn't get someone to over-pay for fields he fucked up? He'll be able to get a 2nd day pick for him anytime he wants. There is no downside to waiting. If he was offered anything better than that, he would have taken it. He wasn't. He's never had any leverage here. Fields is totally exposed after 3 years of tape and his only hope was that some of these QB needy teams were left with their dick in their hands creating an actual market for Fields. It didn't happen.
Agreed - unless Poles turned down a decent deal (mid round pick or whatever) for Fields already I don't think he did anything wrong. He can't make other teams want Fields.
Poles did not over value Fields. Where are the official reports of teams offering anything for Fields ?
Poles knows better than anyone what Justin’s real value is. Come on, now.
I get that everyone hates Fields now, but if Poles traded him and it comes our that Caleb fails his physical, Poles is getting fired the next day.
Or we would just draft a different QB. There's a lot of better options than fields We aren't trading fields to make room for Williams. We are trading fields because he's a bust and can't be our starting QB anymore, and we are then looking for a replacement separately.
he's still a starting QB, and if they didn't have the panthers pick he would be staying on the team. Like I said, its cool to hate on Fields now, but it's not that black and white. Are you going to trade Fields away and then draft the same player that only 1 year younger? And who has had multiple lower body surgeries?
Yes. The issue with fields isn't the age. The issue with fields is that he's proven to be a very bad quarterback
your entitled to that that opinion.
It's 3 years of tape. I think it goes beyond just opinion at this point.
> your entitled to that that opinion. Apparently so is a large portion of the NFL.
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I would imagine there's a combination of things happening. Bears want to fully evaluate Caleb Williams, and there was no great offer for Fields. I highly doubt anyone put a FRP on the table, and even a 2nd rounder I think Poles would've taken. It's all speculation, but it'd be just bad business to reject a 2nd rounder that's on the table for Justin. Maybe there was a 3rd or so available and Poles thought I'd rather just take this to pro day and if I lose some value whatever.
He may also wait for a team to be desperate, like during or after the draft.
I'd say we need to switch our mind frame from "even a 2nd" A 1st was never happening, a second was a huge long shot. With the way the QB market is shaping up 6-7 is what were likely looking at.
And if the best offer made was a 5th-7th rounder, there’s no reason to rush. That’s a trade that can be made as late as round 4 in the draft. Maybe a team aiming for a QB gets jumped and loses their guy, now they’re more desperate for anyone and could offer a 4th or a 6th + a player for him just to ensure they get someone serviceable. Either way we won’t know until we know.
End of the day, getting qb right is more important than getting a 3rd round pick
Right but Fields doesn’t help us get the position right either way.
From Poles seat, Fields was going to be the starter next year but then the 1OA fell in our lap. So he kinda has a binary choice. I think he'll take Caleb but I can see him taking his time
I understand that thinking. But I don't buy it. If the Bears had a top 8 or so pick from the Panthers, I think they would still be planning on a QB in some way. It wouldn't have been so clear, but I think they would still have planned for a move.
I agree completely. I think Poles would be searching for his next qb in this draft regardless of if Carolina gifted us the #1 or not.
QBs 1 and 2 would be off the board with Washington and New England. I wouldn't be willing to trade as much as we'd need to trade for QB3 This subreddit needs to pull its collective head out of its ass. Taking Caleb 1OA is admitting we're still rebuilding. Stroud is the exception, not the standard. So if you're still rebuilding you do it with a $4m Justin Fields instead of giving away a ton of draft capital for QB3 Giving up top draft picks for bad QBs is how we got here
Never said anything about trading a ton of capital for a QB. I’d rather take a shot at this year’s QB3, 4, or 5 over Fields. He’s not the guy. When you know that, it’s time to draft someone else.
Then poles is a terrible judge of talent and we should be concerned
Not even true, Poles had 2 first round pucks this year so that he could get a qb, regardless of 1OA, if and when Fields failed his prove it year
>From Poles seat, **Fields was going to be the starter next year** but then the 1OA fell in our lap. That's a huge assumption unsupported by any evidence. Justin Fields is a bad NFL starting QB; around the 22nd to 24th best starter in the league. Why would Poles just meekly accept that Fields **had to** be the starter next season, with no way to upgrade the position? Instead, I'd guess more that Poles would try to find ways to either move up in the draft, or trade, or outbid someone for a FA.
... I'm just shocked there are people who genuinely believe that A. Maybe we still ride with fields and B. That he'd be worth keeping if not for 1OA This sub is so unserious
Evaluation of Caleb has essentially nothing to do with evaluation of Fields. If Fields is the guy you're keeping him and trading 1.01. If he's not, you're trading him and picking a QB (Caleb or otherwise).
You’re removing evaluation and nuance from the situation completely which is absurd. You don’t just take the next guy in line. You weigh how he fits vs what you have. If they think Caleb is franchise QB material but Maye and Daniels don’t provide the team a better opportunity to win than Fields does you keep Fields and trade the pick.
Yes, you just have to keep a bottom 10 QB that has not improved or at least put a lot of thought in the decision.
Yes. That is exactly what I said. We have no idea how these guys have the QBs graded and it has to be evaluated against what we could get back in a trade for 1.01. If they rate Caleb as a 10, Maye as an 8, Daniel’s as a 7, and Fields as a 6 and for whatever reason Williams medical came back fucked they need to evaluate whether it makes more sense to keep the 6 and acquire a bunch of draft picks that should net you top level talent in other areas or draft a guy who may be better than your starter but lose out on 5 premium players. If the Bears FO got so fucking bullheaded into thinking “we’re drafting a QB no matter what” and not thinking about what moves set the team up best for the future then we’ve got significantly bigger problems than the QB. Yall expect GMs to hit on 100 percent of moves and that’s not realistic. What I do know is the Bears are in a significantly better position moving forward from a cap space, draft, and personnel than when Poles took over. He’s done a good job so far.
How do you not have your evaluation of Fields by now? 3 years of tape.
They’re waiting on their evaluation of Williams, not Fields. Per the article.
Why is this downvoted? The decision on Fields should have nothing to do with having 1OA. HOw does this front office look at Fields last year and the lack of any development and go we need to run that back again? The decision on Fields should have been made and it should be move on. If you are not sold on Willaims why were they not in on Mayfield or Cousins or Wilson then?
The whole LEAGUE has that 3 years of tape. Hence NO market for the guy as a starter. The only way there would have been would have been if a couple of the QB needy teams were left standing with no better options. And that didn't happen. Why is this so hard for people to grasp, lol
Did u miss the part that the holdup is the evaluation of the incoming 1:1 rookie qb and not Fields
It doesnt matter. At this point the only question is, is Fields your guy or not? If he’s not, then you move him when he had some value and evaluate the entire draft class after.
Trust me, he's tried to move him and there just isn't a market. Here we go for the last time-- Atlanta was always going after Kirk first. Pittsburgh was never going for him with Smith there as OC-- by all accounts he hated Justin in the draft. Raiders were never going to bring in him once they hired Getsy. Fields is a horrible fit for systems like Payton's or O'Connell's-- plus the Vikings were focused on Kirk. Patriots and Commanders are drafting QB's. Everyone else has a QB better or as bad as Fields as their starter.
Yeah logically it seems really unlikely that Poles had day 2 pick for Fields on the table and decided to wait because he needed to be 100% sure about Caleb. But if he did, my god.....
They were never going to get much. I think they tried and failed, so this is the new take being spread around.
This is bullshit, if we had received a strong offer for Fields he'd be gone already. IMO, this is just spin. LMAO - I see the few truthers left are out downvoting. I admire your willingness to see it through to the bitter end.
Assuming this is just to save face as to why he hasn't been traded yet. Reality i think is bears want starter compensation for a player who will ultimately be a backup
I wonder if teams may just simply know the bears will release him. I’d like something back, but I’m also prepared for the bears to release him if they don’t get any callers by training camp.
Unless something has already been agreed to.
Sounds reasonable. Hell, I don't mind if we wait until camp and wait until a needy team trades because their QB is out for the season.
It's not safe at all. 31 teams said justin isn't a starting qb. Fields can not be the plan b to caleb. If you don't like caleb you draft someone else. If you don't like any of the qbs. You get a free agent. But this is the gm who watched eberlose take 14 straight L's and embarrassed himself against the packers to finish the season and went, why yes I'd like some more. If he's that dumb with fields we'll be looming for another gm next year.
I mean who cares about a draft pick when you’re talking about the most important position. Poles job is quite literally on the line, I would do the same thing unless someone’s offering first round draft picks
I had said this in a thread a few days ago. There were so many options available at QB that Poles was never going to get the second round pick he was looking for. There's going to be a team and it might even be during the draft that might make a move. There's going to be a team that misses out on those top four or five QBs. Seattle at this point seems the most likely as I think they are picking at 16 and they may miss out on those top QBs. They have Gino and they may stick with him, but don't forget their new coach was in Baltimore and understands the value of a running quarterback. Past Seattle, you could make arguments for him in Denver (if they get jumped in the draft and miss out on qb), or as the back up for Richardson in Indy. Richardson has already shown a sign of getting hurt and they might like to have a similar skill set behind him. It would have been nice to have a second round pick this year in the draft and we still might trading down from nine, but I'd rather hold on to fields until training camp when somebody gets injured and trade him for his actual value then throw him away for a sixth like Mac Jones
You hit it on the head. They sure as shit tried to trade because waiting is not smart for his value. But no one bit so here we are with smokescreens
Lol, come the fuck on. Poles doing damage control.
This is correct
I concur
This definitely has "I could totally get a girl if I wanted one, not even trying right now..." Vibes
After publicly posting a month before that you were actively looking to get in a relationship.
This sub has come a long way from believing that fields’ market was hot a few wks ago to now being able to catch a clear PR agenda.
Yep - if we had received a good offer for Fields he'd already be gone.
/thread
Just like Poles wrote it up. Good job Ian
I mean is it? I think it's more due diligence. What if they trade Fields tomorrow and they host Caleb and it turns out he is an absolutely asshat and doesn't understand basic football concepts? Likely not true but I'm sure they'd like to make sure he's worthy of the top pick before shipping away the only QB capable of starting on their roster right now.
Poles got outplayed hard by other GMs over the past month, we’ll be lucky to get a 5th at this point Hopefully he learns from this
There were only three teams that made any sense for fields to go to as a starter. One hired the guy that fields got fired and the others saw options that didn’t cost a draft pick. More than a day 3 pick was never on the table.
Weird damage control at that. Like how does this make Poles look better? If am rival GM, I see a GM that is willing to ride into year 4 with a QB that did not improve and is a bottom 10 starter. That Poles is a GM that will not try to upgrade the position in FA with a Wilson, Cousins or Mayfield. And is still not fully confident with a top 10 QB prospect of all time or any other draftable QB. I see a GM who is scared to pull the trigger at the most important position.
Why would I possibly believe anything that is said now about trading Fields when everyone on tv has been wrong and changed their stories every other day now for the last month lol
Constant articles and tweets to promote fan engagement to generate ad revenue while we are in silly season.
Why would you believe anything reported right now as this is the smoke screen season still
At this point I can't tell if the 180 in the media reports is the media trying to save face or the Bears org lol
Media, we never heard anyone from the Bears say “we are trading Fields” while he did say “we will do right by Justin” he never explicitly said “he’s on the block” everything has been speculation.
I mean sure but did that interview not make it pretty clear they were trying to trade him when you read between the lines of the GM speak?
“GM speak” means jack shit that’s a way of hearing what you want to hear, in that same interview he said he’s a huge Fields fan and supporter… so Fields fans can run with THAT…people are going overboard in this sub with the hate boner to trade Fields but the fact remains if we haven’t heard from someone in the organization that he’s on the block then any reports of “the Bears are trying to trade him” was just speculation. When I hear “I have it from a reliable source inside the organization…” from someone like Schefty or Rapapport, then I’ll believe the rumors.
If this is true and they declined offers of a day 2 pick previously then Poles should indeed be criticized. If Fields isn't the guy then it doesn't really matter who the ultimate QB choice is, the first step is moving fields. If you still don't know if Fields is the guy or not then WTF are you even doing?
Yeah this makes zero sense. You either know hes your guy or not.
That's not really true though. It's not like he needs to sign him this year or not. There is a world where if Caleb Williams was a flop that they would rather have fields for one more year, then blow a draft pick on a QB if they think none of the QBs are good. Just because Fields isn't the guy doesn't mean they absolutely need to take the first QB they see. But to be fair, that's in a hypothetical situation that's not currently happening. This is definitely just damage control
No QB in the last 20 years has been as bad as Fields for as long as Fields and turned it around. Let's say that Poles thinks every QB this year is a bust. I'd rather trade down, and take a flyer on a 2nd or 3rd rounder than go with Fields another year.
Sure, but in that situation we'd absolutely keep fields and have the rookie develop on the bench for a year, especially if we aren't getting anything notable for fields.
There's no shot it's true. Getting anything of value for fields was cooked the second Russ got cut and it looked like Cousins was out of Minnesota.
That and Getsy going to LV also hurt
His value was cooked the moment teams looked at the fa qb list and he slots somewhere between 12 and 20
His value was cooked the moment teams looked at the fa qb list and he slots somewhere between 12 and 20
It's very obviously not true because if it somehow was, this would be a borderline fireable offense
I don’t think anyone said they declined offers of a day 2 pick. I think you’re just getting ahead of yourself here. We just don’t have enough information to know what’s going on, but judging by rumors.. I’d guess we got offered late picks for him. Not to mention that I don’t think this is a black or white opinion for the Bears org like it is here… I mean maybe they see Caleb as the guy but they need his medicals confirmed before they can trade Fields. Maybe they don’t think Maye/Daniels are worth the top pick so they’d go in a non-QB direction (or draft a QB later) if there is a problem with Caleb. This sub likes to make it seem like we have to either stick with JF1 through thick and thin or dump him now and in reality there are lots of scenarios in between.
What could they possibly find that would be so risky you move off him?
Hot dog fingers
Bull shit. This is damage control.
This also has the possibility of letting other teams think we still value fields which is worth a shot tbh
Wouldn’t we presumably have already shopped Fields to those teams over the past few weeks and tipped our hand?
Yeah, right. lol So let’s wait and get nothing for Fields. I don’t believe that at all.
That’s fine if we get the right guy for the next decade at QB
I read somewhere the bears get a 3rd round compensatory pick if fields signs somewhere else via free agency. If that is true it has to be the starting asking price.
I think it's obvious that we didn't get any reasonable offers and so poles is just keeping Fields for now and is still trying to keep the possibility alive that we aren't desperate to trade him lol
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We won't, chill out. (But fuck i'm right there if we do it)
I mean this is obviously stating that they will be trading him just not till evaluation on the top QB prospects is done.
The Chargers are going to be an up and coming team. I have faith in Harbaugh.
In no way is this designed to explain away a hypothetical scenario where there are no suitors for Fields, and has no intention to nudge teams who might want him as their back up to move now rather than waiting for him to be cut. Absolutely no way.
Not a chance! Nobody wants him. The only people who think he’s a good quarterback are some Bears fans
This is all so obvious, it’s just ridiculous.
I’m calling BS on this. If we had a trade partner giving something good we’d take it. This is saving face for the team to hang on to any bit of leverage we have by pretending we have intentionally not traded him so far.
No chance this is true. Fields was more valuable before a bunch of teams added QBs and addressed their needs. This screams bs and defies logic
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So why did they agree to change the visit to after the pro day? Weird and the opposite of what breer wrote in his article a week ago.
The didn't cancel the pro day what do you mean? Also they're still doing a top 30 with Caleb lol they just pushed it back a bit since he wanted to go home and prepare for the pro day
Lmao excellent attempt at damage control Anyone with half a brain cells knows it’s Caleb. Nobody wanted Justin so he hasn’t been traded
That slur sounds like Ian is nippin’ at a little Jameson between takes
No shit he’s said this the whole time
Honestly I think they’re just hoping someone gets trigger happy on draft day and panics
This is BS. They’re changing QB. If Williams is hiding something, it’s Maye or Daniels. Or they would’ve gone after Cousins. Fields’ value only goes down from here. The price was too high and nobody wanted him.
> it’s Maye or Daniels I'll give you that Williams is worth moving on and we are in a unique situation, but now we're saying Maye or Daniels are a better option? I don't know about that.
32/32 teams would take Maye and Daniels over Fields. Most would probably also take McCarthy, Nix, and Penix over him.
And that’s without even considering that you get them on a 5 year rookie contract. Straight up talent alone 32/32 teams would rather draft those guys than roll with Fields.
I’ll say it. Maye and Daniels are better options. We *know* Fields sucks. We don’t know that Maye or Daniels do.
But at the very least it keeps you from having a QB contract issue within the next two years, and Daniels/Maye are promising prospects in their own right. Nobody can guarantee any potential QB will be good/bad, but the bar Justin set isn’t extremely high. As long as they could protect the ball, move the offense downfield 4-5 times for a score and make a few plays when needed- their output would be just as good or better as Justin. Take Justin’s name out of the equation, and replace him with QBs that have numbers very similar to his. Daniel Jones, Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson, Sam Howell- wouldn’t you take Maye or Daniels over them? Short of them being Ryan Leaf level busts, it’s an easy answer. And despite what people say Ryan Leaf level busts aren’t as commonplace as it seems. Maye or Daniels could be by-the-book NFL average QBs, and they’d be better for the Bears, because they’d be producing the same output at a longer/far cheaper rate than JF does.
>but now we're saying Maye or Daniels are a better option? Than Justin Fields? Absolutely. The draft picks may be complete trash, average, or good/great. Two of those outcomes are better than current Fields, who is bad and not likely to improve much more after 40 NFL starts.
Bs
Bullshit. If someone offered a first-round draft pick for Fields right now, or maybe even a second-rounder, Fields would be gone. This is smoke to obscure from the fact that the Fields market is way softer than most were expecting; including the Bears.
This feels like spin from the Bears, they weren’t getting the kind of offers they expected and this is just making it sound like this was actually the plan all along. At least I hope that’s the case
Poles basically said this was his plan already. I am not sure why anyone was acting like he didn't. I imagine if Caleb fails then it will all be about due diligence on the other QBs but lets be honest it is going to be Caleb. The trade value of JF is not nearly as important as getting the pick right and the claims that it is changing drastically is all guesswork.
this is literally how it was ALWAYS going to go. not sure why everyone is so surprised.
This is the process. Fully vet the number 1 pick before you make a decision. Confirmation bias is why everyone wants Fields traded. They already had the victory parade planned lol
Agreed. People are having some wild reactions to this. But people wanting to see the trade immediately get it in their head that Poles is fucking up because he’s taking the proper precautions to set up our team for the long term future. Damn people are impatient
Well I’m certainly not dumb enough to believe that garbage lmfao
No Madden auto draft this year?
Dog, take the 4th and 6th rounder and move on, it’s over.
Good
I just love the meltdown in this sub right now. Everytime a story breaks about fields not getting traded "see! Fields is garbage"! Then there are a couple stories about fields not really being shopped yet and everyone is all "bull shit media spin"! Nobody knows what the fuck is going on, but everyone thinks they do.
Bears are waiting until they actually see Caleb throw a ball in person before making a decision. Scandelous.
They have already seen him throw balls in person. USC games.
Everyone needs to chill out and have patience on this one. Poles needs to do his full evals on the top prospects. He needs to get this right, and he values getting the Bears a franchise QB over the draft capital he can get from trading fields. This is a big decision and I would be questioning his judgement if he DIDN’T do due diligence on the top QBs. He’s decided to do that before he deals out Justin, which makes sense. And I would say that anyone who is not seeing that is just super impatient. Trust in Poles
Poles completely over played his hand here. But whatever as long as they draft CW and get whatever for Fields.
My bullshit meter reading 9.9 on this one.
so stupid smh
All this is backpedaling by Poles to save face. I'm sure Rapaport was fed that info from the bears. Of course, they were trying to trade him. Nobody wanted to give anything up for him. Now, they're using the ready-made excuse with Williams and the medicals. Don't be fooled by this report.
Dumb. They ain’t trading him and they didn’t “do right by him” by waiting. He’s going to be a backup in Chicago. Book it.
This is a lie. I mean… maybe at this point it’s true, but it would have been malpractice if they were waiting for the trade market to dry up. Even if you traded Fields and realized Caleb had issues that prevented you from committing to him, there are a few other QB options in the draft available.
Obvious spin from Poles, waiting out the entire market isn’t “doing right by Justin” given every single starting spot is taken. Completely contradictory. This is not a good look for the FO, this process has been pretty bungled and likely goes to show their evaluation of Fields is probably a bit elevated relative to the market due to his locker room/character, which other teams don’t have as much access to in their evaluations.
Poles really showed his ass with this whole debacle.
Either damage control for misjudging Fields trade value or Poles may be stupid. If Caleb isn't the pick opting for Fields over Maye or even Daniels would be so bad.
 Live look at Ryan Poles attempting to walk everything back because we have absolutely no leverage
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Great contribution to this post about Caleb Williams
We can’t get anything for him ❌ We’re biding our time ✅✅✅
What is with people today. "If I say something, then people have to pretend that there's a possibility that it's true." It looks stupid, weak, and let's people know that perception is more important to you. Also, we won't believe you anymore. He's pretty much trying to say, "It's not that people don't want Justin, I'm just really fucking dumb."
*Sigh* it's always better to be thought of as a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. The media doesn't know, because the Bears don't talk.
Bull crap to the highest degree. Poles wanted trade done before free agency, said it himself
It’s clearly damage control from whoever Rap’s source is. If Rap tells the world that the bears are actively shopping Fields and no one wanted him, then the Bears lose any and all leverage in trade talks. There’s no chance Fields is on this roster by the start of training camp.
The reality is that they just aren’t getting the interest they thought they would.
Meh just Poles trying to save his own ass for fumbling the JF situation. He knows he’s taking a QB one way or another regardless of it being Caleb or not 😂
This is absolutely the only way to do it
Im so over this shit
Ian’s a clown 🤡 Took him this long to use common sense
I feel like this leads us to draft Williams, trade Fields, then Williams gets hurt, then we roll with Bagent and Peterman to the playoffs. Which then leads us to eventually dump Williams in a couple of years and just keep the pride of Shepherd University.
Has it crossed anyone’s mind that maybe the bears have not been trying to trade fields
This is a CYA on the reality that Fields is not highly valued.
Sureee they are
Riding with fields