Do you think Justin Fields can still become a franchise QB?

[RaidersAreOne]

 

Barring something massive, I think most assume Chicago will be going QB at #1 and moving on from Fields. Justin has had a very up and down career to say the least, but how much of his struggles are on him vs. horrendous coaching / situation?

If/when Fields is moved, do you think he can still become a capable above average starter? Do you think he has the potential to even become a legitimate franchise QB? Or is he simply just not a good QB and is nothing more than a gadget QB best served as a #2? Where could you see him flourish?

Edited February 2 by RaidersAreOne

[Acgott]

I hope so. #tradethepick

[Forge]

What's the definition of franchise QB? Can he be a starter for a team for 7 years? I think so. 

Is he ever going to be a top 7 QB? I kind of don't think so

[Sugashane]

I think he can, but there are caveats.

Bears 100% screwed him. Pace drafted him in hopes of saving his own skin, I don't believe Nagy really wanted him to begin with and that caused a rift between them. So Fields got drafted by a guy and then had a coach who wanted Dalton all along. Nagy was a dead man walking and seemed to check out at the end, almost like he wanted to take Pace out the door with him (which I do appreciate actually). Then Fields gets Eberflus and Poles who already know they're completely dumping the roster to get younger and a better contract situation. They tank in 2022, works wonderfully with the 1.1 pick, get Moore and an haul and a metric ton of luck that eventually gets 1.1 for the 2024 year too. But Getsy wanted a more standard pocket passing scheme and even when he saw that Fields' legs are what make him electric, he shied away from it WAY too much. Even when he had great stretches of production, he would suddenly not even try to move the pocket or challenge with designed QB runs. Bizarre.

So he has three years of incompetent playcalling behind him, has had his *** kicked, and now has to enter the 4th year of his rookie deal to learn a new system, with an optional 5th that is unlikely to get picked up. Not ideal.

I think he needs to run a Greg Roman offense, his legs are his biggest asset and he can make some serious wow plays with his arm. But he needs a real OC to utilize his strengths, and to minimize his weaknesses. 1-2 reads, dump off, or run. Don't let him sit back there, he needs to get rid of the ball or be moving.  I don't believe he could ever produce like Jackson has with his arm but with a talented staff around him and a competent playcaller I think he absolutely can produce. Is it enough for me personally to want to extend him? No. But I think he could definitely put up points. The Bears defense had 3 collapses that together they had an 88% chance of winning all three, so the Bears should have been a 10 win team last year. That is with no passrush for the first half of the season (pre-Sweat trade) and with Getsy calling plays out of Madden 96.

I'd trade him and draft Williams, but even though he got absolutely shafted by Chicago he has been such an easy guy to root for. No complaints or drama, he'll fight for every play, and his teammate rave about him. I hope he has a solid 10+ year as a starting QB. I don't believe he will ever sniff being elite at anything besides rushing but man he can make some exciting plays.

[nagahide13]

He's bad with anticipation and reading the field. He's not very good in the pocket. On the flip side, the offense doesn't make sense and isn't even trying to maximize his talents.

If they get him into the right offense he'll look a whole lot better. If they do that and somehow get him to progress through reads properly and stay comfortable in the pocket he could be really great.

Right now the Bears are good enough to beat teams with Fields even in the wrong system. He's just so incredibly athletic and talented. If they get his head right...

[Soggust]

[Jakuvious]

I think it's physically possible, but unlikely enough for me to say no. The bad habits are already sinking in pretty deep when you're three years in. Like, the offense has done him few favors, and you can improve things by fixing some of that (though I don't like Waldron enough to think there's going to be some huge revelation there), but a lot of damage has already been done to Fields's development. Like, maybe if he gets traded to a team with an excellent offensive coaching staff, but any team that has that isn't looking for a QB like Fields.

[scar988]

9 hours ago, Sugashane said:

I think he can, but there are caveats.

Bears 100% screwed him. Pace drafted him in hopes of saving his own skin, I don't believe Nagy really wanted him to begin with and that caused a rift between them. So Fields got drafted by a guy and then had a coach who wanted Dalton all along. Nagy was a dead man walking and seemed to check out at the end, almost like he wanted to take Pace out the door with him (which I do appreciate actually). Then Fields gets Eberflus and Poles who already know they're completely dumping the roster to get younger and a better contract situation. They tank in 2022, works wonderfully with the 1.1 pick, get Moore and an haul and a metric ton of luck that eventually gets 1.1 for the 2024 year too. But Getsy wanted a more standard pocket passing scheme and even when he saw that Fields' legs are what make him electric, he shied away from it WAY too much. Even when he had great stretches of production, he would suddenly not even try to move the pocket or challenge with designed QB runs. Bizarre.

So he has three years of incompetent playcalling behind him, has had his *** kicked, and now has to enter the 4th year of his rookie deal to learn a new system, with an optional 5th that is unlikely to get picked up. Not ideal.

I think he needs to run a Greg Roman offense, his legs are his biggest asset and he can make some serious wow plays with his arm. But he needs a real OC to utilize his strengths, and to minimize his weaknesses. 1-2 reads, dump off, or run. Don't let him sit back there, he needs to get rid of the ball or be moving.  I don't believe he could ever produce like Jackson has with his arm but with a talented staff around him and a competent playcaller I think he absolutely can produce. Is it enough for me personally to want to extend him? No. But I think he could definitely put up points. The Bears defense had 3 collapses that together they had an 88% chance of winning all three, so the Bears should have been a 10 win team last year. That is with no passrush for the first half of the season (pre-Sweat trade) and with Getsy calling plays out of Madden 96.

I'd trade him and draft Williams, but even though he got absolutely shafted by Chicago he has been such an easy guy to root for. No complaints or drama, he'll fight for every play, and his teammate rave about him. I hope he has a solid 10+ year as a starting QB. I don't believe he will ever sniff being elite at anything besides rushing but man he can make some exciting plays.

I tend to agree with some of this assessment, but he was a fantastic passer at Ohio State. It's like he just regressed because of Chicago. 

12 minutes ago, Jakuvious said:

I think it's physically possible, but unlikely enough for me to say no. The bad habits are already sinking in pretty deep when you're three years in. Like, the offense has done him few favors, and you can improve things by fixing some of that (though I don't like Waldron enough to think there's going to be some huge revelation there), but a lot of damage has already been done to Fields's development. Like, maybe if he gets traded to a team with an excellent offensive coaching staff, but any team that has that isn't looking for a QB like Fields.

IDK. I think Atlanta will probably look at Fields. Depending on Cost (Say, a 2 this year and a 3 next), he could be here.

[Jakuvious]

2 minutes ago, scar988 said:

IDK. I think Atlanta will probably look at Fields. Depending on Cost (Say, a 2 this year and a 3 next), he could be here.

I said a team with an excellent offensive coaching staff.

[scar988]

8 minutes ago, Jakuvious said:

I said a team with an excellent offensive coaching staff.

You do realize the coaching staff is almost entirely different this year. Only coaches they kept on offense were the OL coach (He did a good job), moved TJ Yates to QB coach and kept the RB coach (because I mean, he's been doing great, too.) This staff looks better to me than last year's by far.

[Broncofan]

The problem with Fields is that you need to gear the O to leverage his legs as a threat, as a pure drop back passer, he'd be neutralized pretty easily.

IMO any time you can contain a QB by keeping them in the pocket, it's hard to call them a true franchise QB.   Now, there's some grey here, because extending plays by moving within the pocket, to throw downfield (I mean, that's a huge part of Mahomes' game), that's a huge weapon.   But IMO the Q is this - can the QB beat you solely within the pocket, and with his arm?   That to me is how you have sustainability, and that's a huge component to a franchise QB.

Put another way - when Josh Allen & Patrick Mahomes become less mobile (but still somewhat of a threat to move around), they'll likely still be able to kill D's.   John Elway was able to do this in the latter stage of his career.   Can Josh Fields do that?   Not so sure.

[Jakuvious]

4 minutes ago, scar988 said:

You do realize the coaching staff is almost entirely different this year. Only coaches they kept on offense were the OL coach (He did a good job), moved TJ Yates to QB coach and kept the RB coach (because I mean, he's been doing great, too.) This staff looks better to me than last year's by far.

Yes, I'm aware. Nothing on this chart changes what I said. I think it's unlikely Fields turns it around at this point. I said very unlikely, but maybe if he goes to a team with an excellent offensive coaching staff. If someone asked me to craft said coaching staff that could, it would not include any of Raheem Morris, Zac Robinson, or T.J. Yates.

But hey, that RB coach is doing great, and I'm sure there's a Lamar Jackson-esque joke to be made about that in there somewhere.

[Phinsesq]

Yes, teams are way too quick to give up on QBs give him a 3rd year. From what I have seen, I believe the talent is there. The Bears are in the position to get the number 1 pick because of how bad Carolina was not because of how bad Fields is. Admittedly, there is something to be said IF you think a “Caleb Williams” is a generational talent (that term is used entirely too often) then I understand making the switch and resetting that rookie contract timer. If the Bears can get a king’s ransom for that number 1 pick, plus their projected 60+ million in cap space, I think that puts them in a far better position for success moving forward with Fields.     

[Sugashane]

1 hour ago, scar988 said:

I tend to agree with some of this assessment, but he was a fantastic passer at Ohio State. It's like he just regressed because of Chicago. 

IDK. I think Atlanta will probably look at Fields. Depending on Cost (Say, a 2 this year and a 3 next), he could be here.

A part of that is the latest he got to play on rookie mode at Ohio State. There was NFL talent all around him, pressure wasn't much of an issue, and players were constantly "college open." In Chicago the first two years he had a LOT of pressure and Moore is the first true WR1 he has had. ARob was talented enough but clearly checked out that season and had Nagy mailing it in too. Fields and Getsy were a terrible fit, Fields now misses too many easy flats and quick passes that he never seemed to miss in college. Likely overthinking and not doing well with Getsy's attempts to alter his throwing in some way. No proof but that's just my guess.

ATL was a place I thought should have made the move last season. Bears were looking like theyvwrre going to have two top 4 picks and Fields would have been a clear upgrade over Ridder. I know next to nothing about Robinson so idk if that's a fit or not, but would love to see Fields get to have some of those weapons and be in GA.

[scar988]

8 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

A part of that is the latest he got to play on rookie mode at Ohio State. There was NFL talent all around him, pressure wasn't much of an issue, and players were constantly "college open." In Chicago the first two years he had a LOT of pressure and Moore is the first true WR1 he has had. ARob was talented enough but clearly checked out that season and had Nagy mailing it in too. Fields and Getsy were a terrible fit, Fields now misses too many easy flats and quick passes that he never seemed to miss in college. Likely overthinking and not doing well with Getsy's attempts to alter his throwing in some way. No proof but that's just my guess.

ATL was a place I thought should have made the move last season. Bears were looking like theyvwrre going to have two top 4 picks and Fields would have been a clear upgrade over Ridder. I know next to nothing about Robinson so idk if that's a fit or not, but would love to see Fields get to have some of those weapons and be in GA.

Robinson is McVay tree. Helped work with Goff and Stafford a lot.