Ryan Poles won't rule out keeping Justin Fields, still using No. 1 pick on quarterback
Ryan Poles won't rule out keeping Justin Fields, still using No. 1 pick on quarterback originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles is facing some big questions about the team’s future at quarterback, and he is committed to exploring all options.
That list could even include the idea of using the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft to select a quarterback, while still keeping former first-round pick Justin Fields in the fold.
“My brain has gone crazy all year just thinking just a million different scenarios. But I'm sure that's that's one of them,” he told media during a press conference on Wednesday. “I'll just stay very wide open with the different paths that we can go and as we collect information that closes some of those, those pathways down to the other ones, but I'm going to be wide open about this.”
Fields has been with the Bears for three seasons, with a 60.3% completion percentage, 6,674 yards and 40 touchdowns to his credit. He has also thrown 30 interceptions and has posted a record of 10-28 as a starter.
Now, with the Bears facing a May deadline of determining whether to pick up the fifth-year option on his contract, the talk has surrounded whether they would trade him, or if they would either trade the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft or use it on a non-quarterback.
In recent years, quarterbacks taken with the top-overall pick have largely been made starters immediately, starting with Sam Bradford in the 2010 season. Since then, Cam Newton, Andrew Luck, Jameis Winston, Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence and Bryce Young have all been named Week 1 starters.
Only Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield in recent years have started out as the backup quarterback after being taken with the top overall selection, but both ended up starting by the end of their respective rookie campaigns.
In this year’s class, the consensus is that the top-overall pick would either be USC’s Caleb Williams or North Carolina’s Drake Maye, though LSU’s Jayden Daniels could force his way into the conversation.
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