5 Justin Fields trade ideas the Chicago Bears may actually consider

The Chicago Bears wouldn’t really trade Justin Fields, would they? General manager Ryan Poles is in his second offseason with the team, and neither he nor head coach Matt Eberflus (or offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, for that matter) were part of drafting Fields when the Bears did back in 2021. The regime that traded up to acquire Justin Fields is gone, but Fields showed positive signs of development in 2022 that have caused many Bears fans to believe he can still be the franchise QB and QB of the future.

But does Ryan Poles agree? There have been rumors — keeping in mind that it’s rumor season in the NFL, so take them with a grain of salt — that Fields could be on the trade block. There are reasons to believe that could make some sense.

Chicago Bears could entertain Justin Fields trades in 2023?

Jason La Canfora is pretty much every NFL fan’s favorite reporter to meme nowadays, so he understandably took a ton of heat for this report. Who knows how good this information is, but let’s consider, for the moment, that there may be some teeth to this rumor.

Ryan Poles, Matt Eberflus, and even Luke Getsy were not part of drafting Fields, yet going forward, their job security will either be attached to him or whoever they might choose with that number one overall pick.

Fields may have progressed in 2022, but did he progress enough as a passer to convince the Chicago brain trust to pass on the likes of Bryce Young or CJ Stroud atop the 2023 NFL Draft? It’s not completely out of the question that the Bears would entertain trade offers for Fields, given his value is high after a strong year two, he’s still on a rookie deal, and the Bears have the number one pick in the NFL Draft.

Ultimate flexibility. If nothing else, they can put feelers out there to find out what kind of returns they could get. There’s really no harm in it at this point, and the Bears would be fools to go into this draft process and not at least consider the idea of picking Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, or even guys like Will Levis and Anthony Richardson if they are able to land another top 10 pick.

Although Bears fans really don’t want to hear it, there could be some intriguing offers out there for Justin Fields in the coming weeks, and there could be some great fits for him elsewhere in the league. Furthermore, the Bears might actually fall in love with someone like Bryce Young or CJ Stroud. Let’s take a look at five trades that could be enticing for the Bears and other teams with Justin Fields at the center.

Justin Fields trade rumors: Package deal for Lamar Jackson?

You could add in additional draft considerations on either side here if you don’t love this trade for both sides, but honestly, who says no in this scenario?

The Chicago Bears would get Lamar Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP. They are one of the teams right now in the NFL that could certainly afford to pay Jackson the outstanding amount of money he deserves. With nearly $100 million in cap space, the Bears make as much sense for Lamar Jackson as just about anybody, right? And they have one of the best bargaining chips in the league right now — the no. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Obviously, if you’re Chicago, you’d love to find some way to have your cake and eat it too, but you’re getting Lamar Jackson here. If Jackson ends up getting traded, it will be for a king’s ransom. It just so happens that the no. 1 overall pick is worth more than your average draft compensation in any blockbuster trade. Add Justin Fields — who should be worth a first-round value at this point at the very least — and you have good value going back to the Ravens here.

A possible long-term fixture at QB in Fields, with the ability to pick another QB if you so choose at no. 1, or trade down from that spot and load up on picks for the future.

This trade seems like a win-win for both sides and all parties.

Justin Fields trade rumors: Carolina Panthers make some sense

There’s no doubt about it — the Carolina Panthers are gearing up to get themselves a young quarterback one way or the other. Right now, Frank Reich and company own the 9th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, which isn’t exactly prime real estate if they have their eyes on Bryce Young or CJ Stroud. Maybe the Panthers really like Will Levis or Anthony Richardson.

Or maybe they like Justin Fields enough to send the 9th overall pick to Chicago to get him.

This would give Carolina a quarterback who has already taken his lumps as a young NFL player. He took strides forward this past season but now you could get him in the building with Frank Reich, Jim Caldwell, and QBs coach Josh McCown. The Panthers have built a brain trust of coaches that clearly indicates this team is about to dive headfirst into the young QB end of the pool.

So why not trade your top asset for Justin Fields? Unless you love the upside and intangibles of someone like Levis or Richardson way more, getting Fields from Chicago who could then take Bryce Young themselves in this scenario — as well as add another top-10 pick — could be a great path forward for both of these franchises.

Justin Fields trade rumors: New York Jets righting their wrongs?

The further you get down the 2023 NFL Draft order, the more teams are likely going to have to give up. The New York Jets could look to right their wrong from the 2021 NFL Draft and try to pry Fields away from the Bears here in 2023.

What would be Chicago’s motivation to take this kind of a trade? Well, if they fall in love with Bryce Young, they might just be looking for the best possible value they can get. Adding even just the 13th pick for Fields might end up being a win, but they might be able to do a future pick swap with the Jets as well, depending on how much competition there is if a trade market for Fields ends up developing.

So why would this make sense? Well, the Jets are installing a new offensive system under coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, so it makes sense to bring in someone new at the QB position since he’s not going to be married to Zach Wilson. The obvious connection for Hackett and the Jets is Aaron Rodgers. They could also be a destination for Derek Carr.

We don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with those two veterans yet and we don’t know what the Jets are planning but we know GM Joe Douglas has something going with Robert Saleh, his staff, and the momentum they can build coming off of an outstanding 2022 NFL Draft class. That class featured the offensive and defensive rookies of the year.

Garrett Wilson, the offensive rookie of the year, certainly knows Justin Fields from their time together at Ohio State, and I’m sure the Jets would love to reunite the two if they can make it happen.

Justin Fields trade rumors: Atlanta Falcons bringing Fields home?

This is another one of those “who says no?” types of scenarios. Would the Falcons be willing to trade the 8th overall pick to secure Justin Fields? It’s hard to give reasons why not, at this point. Especially after we saw proof of concept last year with Marcus Mariota primarily running the show — this offense under Arthur Smith can have success building around a QB that excels at running the ball.

Fields is also a Georgia native, so this would be a homecoming for him.

The Bears would be able to take the QB of their choosing at number one overall, and then they could continue building the roster around another player with a top-10 pick. Again, who says no?

The rebuilding process for the Falcons has been ongoing for a few years now. Although they made some progress this past season, ownership is going to start expecting better results here in the near future. The pressure has got to be on this offseason for the Falcons to make a bold move at the QB position with GM Terry Fontenot, and this would certainly qualify as a big move.

Pairing up Justin Fields with the likes of Kyle Pitts, Drake London, Cordarrelle Patterson, and Tyler Allgeier…The Falcons could then go out and be very aggressive in free agency at other positions knowing they would have Fields on his rookie deal for another two seasons with a fifth-year option on top of it.

This is a major part of the reason why Fields would have such tremendous value coming off of a strong sophomore campaign. His contract is team-friendly, and while some may have been skeptical about his ability to succeed at the NFL level even as recently as one year ago, there’s enough proof out there now that you can definitely succeed with him.

Justin Fields trade rumors: Colts come calling with new QB whisperer

Again, who says no here? Maybe the Colts think the 4th overall pick is too rich, so maybe you can add some additional draft capital going back the Colts’ way here, but I don’t know if you would really need to other than the fact that GMs are kind of greedy and clean deals like this don’t often just happen.

The Colts are in need of a long-term option at the QB position. They just hired Shane Steichen as their next head coach. For my money, if I’m betting on a head coach in this cycle to develop a young QB, Steichen is right up there with Sean Payton or Frank Reich, if not at the top of the list.

Why?

Look back to the work he did with Justin Herbert in the class of 2020, when the pandemic impacted tremendously the amount of works teams could do at all, much less with a rookie QB. Then look at the work he did transitioning to Philadelphia with Jalen Hurts. He had Hurts looking like an absolute stud by the end of the 2021 season, and Hurts developed into an MVP candidate in just his third NFL season in 2022.

You’ve now got this guy, who is like a white-hot three-point shooter, wide open behind the arc in Indianapolis. Get this man the rock and let him cook.

Shane Steichen working with Justin Fields sounds awesome on paper, given what we’ve seen in his recent body of work. Fields would go to Indianapolis where Jonathan Taylor will hopefully be healthy, and where the skill players have shown progress the last couple of years.

From the Bears‘ perspective, this kind of trade would put you in position to get your top QB as well as perhaps your top non-QB in the 2023 NFL Draft. Talk about building blocks. If the Colts would be willing to do this, this could be massive for Chicago. And why wouldn’t the Colts do this? They would probably have to trade way more to go up for CJ Stroud or Bryce Young. Perhaps they’re willing to do just that.

In the end, it wouldn’t be shocking in the slightest to see the Colts and Bears come together on some sort of a major deal this offseason, given the fact that Colts GM Chris Ballard and Bears GM Ryan Poles were colleagues together for years with the Kansas City Chiefs.