The Pittsburgh Steelers appeared to have gotten a real bargain when they traded a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick for former first-round QB Justin Fields in March. It was a low-risk, high-upside move to replace Kenny Pickett. But it is important to remember that there was quite a bit of quarterback shuffling in free agency, and still, Fields only fetched a future conditional late-round pick. The lack of a robust trade market more or less showed what the league thinks of the young signal caller.
Tyler Dunne is in the middle of releasing a three-part series on his Go Long substack detailing the events leading up to the drafting of Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The first part of the series was more or less a critical recap of the Justin Fields era with the Chicago Bears.
“When you watch him, watch his eyes,” said one of Fields’ former coaches via Tyler Dunne. “He tries to see the whole thing and doesn’t see anything. His eyes are all over the place, and it’s just really hard to watch. It’s just bad football.”
For obvious reasons, Fields’ former coach went unnamed in the piece, but that is a pretty harsh critique of Fields’ capabilities as a quarterback. It is somewhat par for the course for the new quarterback mold. Lamar Jackson faced a lot of the same criticisms in his early years, with people wondering if he would make the switch to wide receiver and writing him off as deficient as an NFL passer. For many of the mobile quarterbacks, it is incapable until proven capable.
They may be electric with the ball in their hands and capable of running for 1,000-plus yards, as Fields did in 2022, but quarterbacks need to be capable of much more than that. There is a reason his record was 3-12 that season despite his exciting production as a rusher. He even received a vote for the 2022 NFL MVP despite the team having the worst record in the league.
The Bears hoped it was something to build on and traded away the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft to acquire WR D.J. Moore. Fields had his most productive season as a passer with 227 completions for 2,562 yards, 16 touchdowns, and nine interceptions, but still only managed a 5-8 record as the starter.
When it came down to it, Fields couldn’t close out games. Of his eight losses in 2023, five of them were one-score games. Late in those games, when trailing, you can’t get away with running the football when you are up against the clock. That is the time when it is necessary for the quarterback to throw the ball, and Fields fell short more often than not in those scenarios.
“Maybe you can add some RAM or extra memory to your computer,” said another of Dunne’s sources close to the Bears’ locker room. “But whatever processor you have, that’s what you have.”
This isn’t a totally novel idea, as Greg Cosell said something similar recently about Fields’ vision. Even with improved weapons around him in 2023, he didn’t make the leap to prove he could be a franchise quarterback in the NFL.
Dunne followed up his piece on X, saying the Steelers’ scheme is totally different and may be beneficial for Fields. But if he doesn’t see things clearly, then the scheme isn’t the problem.
Steelers scheme should help. Totally different.
But also from one of Fields' Chicago coaches:
“Watch his eyes. He tries to see the whole thing and doesn’t see anything. His eyes are all over the place and it’s just really hard to watch. It’s just bad football.”
— Tyler Dunne (@TyDunne) May 11, 2024
Arthur Smith managed to bring out the best in Ryan Tannehill back in 2019 and 2020 after he fizzled out with the Miami Dolphins, so perhaps he can figure out a way to play to Fields’ strengths. In the end, if he doesn’t play much in 2024, it will only cost the Steelers a sixth-round pick. They probably aren’t too worried about the negatives right now with Wilson having the inside track to start. There are still physical traits to try to refine, and if it doesn’t work out then no harm, no foul.
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