cafawip138
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Ohio State fan here; I’m no professional evaluator, but I watched every game Fields played. I may be somewhat biased, but I’d like to think I’m pretty realistic in my evaluations of Ohio State players (for example, I thought that Dwayne Haskins would struggle in the NFL despite his performance at OSU). So I figured I’d stop by and let Bears fans know what kind of player they got. Spoiler alert: Fields is a generational talent who would’ve gone 1st overall in most drafts, and is a significantly better prospect than either Zach Wilson or Trey Lance. For his sake, I’m glad he ended up in a good organization that knows what it’s doing rather than that dumpster fire in New York.
First things first… Nearly every evaluation of Fields that I’ve read seriously undersells his running ability. Ohio State was extremely conservative having him run the ball during his career because they had major depth issues at quarterback and usually didn’t need him to run to win games, so they never really gave him a chance to cut loose and show what he could do as a runner — most of his runs were not designed runs, but rather attempts to salvage broken plays. I’ve seen comparisons to Deshaun Watson or Dak Prescott as a runner, which is laughable — I am not exaggerating when I say that he is a Kyler Murray/Lamar Jackson level runner. He’s nearly as fast as both of them and is quite shifty/elusive, but he’s also 5 inches taller than Murray and roughly 20lbs heavier than both Murray and Jackson, and he runs like it, breaking tackles and dragging defenders when he isn’t breaking ankles or outrunning them. If he’d played running back at college, he would’ve absolutely been drafted, and could conceivably have been a top three running back in this year‘s class based on his measurables alone. His running ability is MUCH better than what his numbers indicate, and if the Bears give him the opportunity to cut loose as a runner, I could easily see him rushing for 800+ yards per year as a pro.
As a passer, he’s got tremendous arm strength (not quite Mahomes/Allen level, but the best in this draft class) and excellent accuracy when given time to throw, and he’s fairly refined as a passer as well. However, he’s got a bit of a hitch in is throwing motion that causes occasional inaccuracy and a fairly slow release, so his arm strength doesn’t quite play up as much as it could. His mechanics improved noticeably between his sophomore and junior seasons, but when he was rushed or forced out of the pocket he would regress to his old habits, which caused occasional inaccuracy and wobbly passes, especially when throwing deep or on the run. But this is a correctable issue, and if he continues improving as he did between years two and three in college, he’ll be able to maximize his considerable raw arm talent. Most importantly, he has the mentality and approach of a pocket passer, not a “dual” threat quarterback that tucks and runs at the first sign of trouble. He’s also known to be extremely intelligent, a very good leader, a tireless worker, tough and gritty almost to a fault, and has zero character concerns.
In terms of negatives, I’d say his primary concern is durability/longevity, not because he’s frail, but because his play style causes him to take a beating. He often holds onto the ball too long and takes unnecessary sacks or hits as a runner fighting for extra yards when throwing the ball away or sliding would’ve been a better option — this is part of the reason why Ohio State had to be so conservative using him as a runner, though he improved his self-preservation as his career went on. But it’s possible that longevity concerns may prevent him from reaching his full potential as a dual threat quarterback in the NFL despite his physical talents. And of course, he played behind possibly the best offensive line in college football, and had arguably the second best receiving corps during both of his seasons, so although he was generally good at reading defenses, he often didn’t have to because he usually got tremendous protection and was often throwing to wide-open receivers. Though he’s got room to improve his ability to read defenses and handle blitzes/pressure, he’s better than advertised in these aspects. He only really struggled in two games duringhis college career — Indiana and Northwestern — and this was largely due to those teams using defensive gameplans that sold out trying to disrupt the passing game, in the hopes that Ohio State would be unwilling to rely Fields’ running ability to bolster an inconsistent/underperforming run game.
So, to summarize... If Justin fields continues to improve his throwing mechanics, stays healthy, and adjusts to the mental learning curve for NFL quarterbacks (which he should have no problem doing given his intelligence and work ethic), and the Bears construct an offense and supporting cast that plays to his strengths, he’ll win an MVP and make the Chicago a perennial Super Bowl contender. And even if he fails to correct some of his flaws as a player, he’ll still probably be a very good quarterback, and I would argue that his “floor” is actually higher than Trevor Lawrence’s. Lawrence is the better overall prospect IMO, but he and Fields are #1 and #1a.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why he dropped so much... it almost reminds me of what happened with DK Metcalf in 2019, who seemed like such a can’t miss prospect on paper that evaluators struggled to find flaws, and ended up fixating on the few minor flaws that they did find while ignoring his ridiculous strengths. But Bears fans are the beneficiaries of the Jets and 49ers GMs getting too cute with their picks and passing on a true generational talent. Getting Fields at #11 is the kind of steal that can change the entire course of a franchise. Enjoy, Bears fans!
First things first… Nearly every evaluation of Fields that I’ve read seriously undersells his running ability. Ohio State was extremely conservative having him run the ball during his career because they had major depth issues at quarterback and usually didn’t need him to run to win games, so they never really gave him a chance to cut loose and show what he could do as a runner — most of his runs were not designed runs, but rather attempts to salvage broken plays. I’ve seen comparisons to Deshaun Watson or Dak Prescott as a runner, which is laughable — I am not exaggerating when I say that he is a Kyler Murray/Lamar Jackson level runner. He’s nearly as fast as both of them and is quite shifty/elusive, but he’s also 5 inches taller than Murray and roughly 20lbs heavier than both Murray and Jackson, and he runs like it, breaking tackles and dragging defenders when he isn’t breaking ankles or outrunning them. If he’d played running back at college, he would’ve absolutely been drafted, and could conceivably have been a top three running back in this year‘s class based on his measurables alone. His running ability is MUCH better than what his numbers indicate, and if the Bears give him the opportunity to cut loose as a runner, I could easily see him rushing for 800+ yards per year as a pro.
As a passer, he’s got tremendous arm strength (not quite Mahomes/Allen level, but the best in this draft class) and excellent accuracy when given time to throw, and he’s fairly refined as a passer as well. However, he’s got a bit of a hitch in is throwing motion that causes occasional inaccuracy and a fairly slow release, so his arm strength doesn’t quite play up as much as it could. His mechanics improved noticeably between his sophomore and junior seasons, but when he was rushed or forced out of the pocket he would regress to his old habits, which caused occasional inaccuracy and wobbly passes, especially when throwing deep or on the run. But this is a correctable issue, and if he continues improving as he did between years two and three in college, he’ll be able to maximize his considerable raw arm talent. Most importantly, he has the mentality and approach of a pocket passer, not a “dual” threat quarterback that tucks and runs at the first sign of trouble. He’s also known to be extremely intelligent, a very good leader, a tireless worker, tough and gritty almost to a fault, and has zero character concerns.
In terms of negatives, I’d say his primary concern is durability/longevity, not because he’s frail, but because his play style causes him to take a beating. He often holds onto the ball too long and takes unnecessary sacks or hits as a runner fighting for extra yards when throwing the ball away or sliding would’ve been a better option — this is part of the reason why Ohio State had to be so conservative using him as a runner, though he improved his self-preservation as his career went on. But it’s possible that longevity concerns may prevent him from reaching his full potential as a dual threat quarterback in the NFL despite his physical talents. And of course, he played behind possibly the best offensive line in college football, and had arguably the second best receiving corps during both of his seasons, so although he was generally good at reading defenses, he often didn’t have to because he usually got tremendous protection and was often throwing to wide-open receivers. Though he’s got room to improve his ability to read defenses and handle blitzes/pressure, he’s better than advertised in these aspects. He only really struggled in two games duringhis college career — Indiana and Northwestern — and this was largely due to those teams using defensive gameplans that sold out trying to disrupt the passing game, in the hopes that Ohio State would be unwilling to rely Fields’ running ability to bolster an inconsistent/underperforming run game.
So, to summarize... If Justin fields continues to improve his throwing mechanics, stays healthy, and adjusts to the mental learning curve for NFL quarterbacks (which he should have no problem doing given his intelligence and work ethic), and the Bears construct an offense and supporting cast that plays to his strengths, he’ll win an MVP and make the Chicago a perennial Super Bowl contender. And even if he fails to correct some of his flaws as a player, he’ll still probably be a very good quarterback, and I would argue that his “floor” is actually higher than Trevor Lawrence’s. Lawrence is the better overall prospect IMO, but he and Fields are #1 and #1a.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why he dropped so much... it almost reminds me of what happened with DK Metcalf in 2019, who seemed like such a can’t miss prospect on paper that evaluators struggled to find flaws, and ended up fixating on the few minor flaws that they did find while ignoring his ridiculous strengths. But Bears fans are the beneficiaries of the Jets and 49ers GMs getting too cute with their picks and passing on a true generational talent. Getting Fields at #11 is the kind of steal that can change the entire course of a franchise. Enjoy, Bears fans!
