Justin Fields wanted to join the Steelers. Thanks to the Bears, he got what he wanted.
On Tuesday, Fields expressed appreciation to his former team and its General Manager.
“Shoutout to [Ryan] Poles, we communicated to him through my agent, and I told him where I wanted to be and this was a place I wanted to be, so he honored that and I appreciate him for that and glad he was able to put me in a spot where I wanted to be at,” Fields said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com.
Some would say the Bears should have done what was right for them, not what was right for the player. But it was right for the Bears to do right by the player, even if they only got a 2025 sixth-round pick that can become a fourth-rounder..
Three years ago, Fields was what Caleb Williams became. The player who was Chicago’s potential franchise quarterback. The Bears attached a 2022 first-round pick to the 20th overall selection in 2021 in order to move up eight spots to get Fields.
So it didn’t work. If they’d played games with Fields, however, Williams would have noticed. And he might have decided that he doesn’t want to be the next guy by whom the Bears might not do right.
It was a win-win. Fields was sent where he wanted to go. And the Bears were able to cement Williams’s willingness to be drafted by Chicago given their willingness to take care of the guy who, in three years, Williams potentially could be — a player who needs a fresh start and who wants to pick his next destinaton.
