Which rookie QB has more upside: Trey Lance or Justin Fields? | Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast
On the heels of Trey Lance's impressive display while replacing an injured Jimmy Garoppolo, and Justin Fields earning his first career victory as a starter, Yahoo Sports' Scott Pianowski and Andy Behrens debate which rookie QB has the most upside. Hear the full conversation on the Yahoo Fantasy Football Forecast podcast. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
[BAT HITS BALL, CROWD CHEERS]
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Trey Lance, I think, has a wide range of outcomes. But he's got rushing potential. And he's got really good skill talent around him. We know that he can throw a pass to Kittle or to Deebo or, god forbid, Brandon Aiyuk. I don't know why he's back in the doghouse, apparently. But these guys are catch and run guys. You don't have to play perfectly for them to make you look good.
He's got Kyle Shanahan. No running back has really kind of taken this job and run with it. Sermon was better this weekend than last week. But I mean, Sermon hasn't been a monster by any means. We'll see when they get Mitchell back, hopefully in week five.
So it's one of those things where it's like Lance could end up quarterback seven. I'm like, oh, yeah, I see it. And he could have the Justin Fields first start of the year game. And oh, yeah, I kind of see that too. So it's going to be a wide range of outcomes with him.
With Fields, I don't think they want games relying on Fields throwing the ball 30, 40-plus times a game. I don't think they've been as proactive with him running the ball as they could. So I have to put him as the bottom guy on this list.
Plus the whole thing with Nagy and who calls the plays, and Nagy's obviously trying to work the media to save his job. And it's just a really-- I almost wish they could just fire Nagy now just to be done with it, although midseason firings almost never make sense. But the idea that Andy Dalton would ever be a starter there when they have to find out about Fields and develop him--
Once they can play fields and not be worried that his confidence is going to be completely beaten out of him, I think Fields just needs to start. Hey to get his reps and learn from his mistakes. This is not a Super Bowl team or probably a playoff team this year. So let's just find out how good Justin Fields is, so in a couple of years when, you hit that inflection point, we've given him a chance.
ANDY BEHRENS: In that regard, I feel like it's so much more difficult choice for San Francisco. If they legitimately think that Garoppolo gives them the best chance to win, well, they're-- I mean, shoot, that team's loaded. They just went to a Super Bowl. They could get back.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Absolutely.
ANDY BEHRENS: It should be a much easier decision for the Bears to move on to Justin Fields, right? Because not that you ever say it, but there's no path for the Bears to make it through the absolute buzzsaw of a deep postseason run. I mean, maybe you can keep yourself in a wild card conversation or something like that. But you're not going to the Super Bowl with this team.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: No upside.
ANDY BEHRENS: It's wild that they're not finding more opportunities to play him and that they're already proactively saying that Andy Dalton is the QB1 as soon as he's ready to play.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: I mean, maybe Matt Nagy's Super Bowl is that he goes 9 and 8 and keeps his job. I mean, he's probably kind of in the Anthony Lynn situation, right? Where Anthony Lynn needed to try to find a way to keep his job. And even winning four games at the end of last season didn't do it. But now the Chargers are so well set up with Herbert and all the talent there, man, I wish I had Mike Williams on any of my fantasy rosters.
But with Chicago, I think the Bears fans just wish we could just push fast forward to 2022. This is going to be kind of a purgatory season. And what quarterback is more purgatory than Andy Dalton?
ANDY BEHRENS: [LAUGHS]
If there is one, he's the number 3 on the depth chart. It's Nick Foles, right?
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: There you go. Get all of them, right?
ANDY BEHRENS: Yeah.
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Why didn't you trade for Joe Flacco too?
ANDY BEHRENS: Oh, gosh. Well, that was a disgusting list of names.
