When he was selected with the 11th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, Justin Fields was considered the savior of the Chicago Bears franchise.
Now, just three years later, Fields has been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers, where his starting role has now been thrown into a quarterback battle with a former Super Bowl champion.
Today, we look back at Fields’ trade and who came out victorious between the two organizations.
Justin Fields Trade Details
To judge any potential trade like this, we first have to look at the full details of the trade. On March 16, Chicago made the move to ship its former franchise quarterback to Pittsburgh.
The Bears received:
- 2025 conditional sixth-round pick
The Steelers received:
- QB, Justin Fields
If Fields plays 51% or more of the team’s snaps for the upcoming season, the conditional 2025 NFL Draft pick goes from a sixth-rounder to a fourth-rounder.
It may not seem like a major difference, but with the Steelers in a tougher conference than the Bears, their likelihood of missing the playoffs this year is higher than Chicago’s. It means that the potential fourth-rounder could be a higher pick to start Day 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft, which the Bears look to use as ammunition for any potential trade-ups.
Players Involved in the Fields Trade
No other NFL players were directly involved in the trade that brought Fields to Pittsburgh. Furthermore, the Bears won’t see the fruits of the transaction until next offseason, having gotten a 2025 conditional NFL Draft pick in return.
There is a caveat to this current deal, though.
Fields is not guaranteed the starting quarterback job, so the 51% of the snaps needed to be played for that pick is still an unlikely benchmark for the former Heisman Trophy finalist to hit.
At the very least, the Bears seem prepared to receive just a sixth-round pick back after quickly replacing Fields in the following draft (2024 No. 1 pick quarterback Caleb Williams).
Who Won the Fields Trade?
There is no contest here. The Bears won this trade from the beginning for many reasons.
First off, while a growing contingent in Chicago demanded the Ohio State product stay with the team, the Bears did plenty to try and get Fields to succeed. He didn’t. Even more so, Fields was the league’s worst quarterback in the fourth quarter by passer rating (55.3) and completion percentage (51%) despite having the likes of DJ Moore at his disposal.
For Chicago to get any sort of draft compensation for Fields is an excellent job for Ryan Poles and the front office. They then selected Williams with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, considered by many to be one of the best quarterback prospects of the last few years.
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, had already acquired Russell Wilson. While they did not give up much at all for Fields, the expectation is that he will be the backup for the upcoming season.
Could Fields be a player that Pittsburgh relies on for the 2024 season if Wilson struggles? Sure, but the likelihood of Fields being a competent starting quarterback who can beat defenses with his arm isn’t seemingly likely to this point.
If it was, he would have shown more over the last three years outside of his excellent athleticism.
