Adjusted SI Ranking for Justin Fields

Free agency always gets the wheels turning for fantasy football owners and SI.com fantasy expert Michael Fabiano saw it affecting Justin Fields

USA Today

By fantasy football standards, it would appear the Bears are destined for more of the Justin Fields show.

At least this is the initial projections by SI.com fantasy football expert Michael Fabiano after the wild start to free agency.

With free agency in its customary standstill following the initial frenzy, Fabiano has Justin Fields ranked as the seventh-best quarterback.

This constitutes a jump of 11 spots from where Fabiano had Fields ranked going into the 2022 season.

Fabiano counts, "Dak Prescott and Justin Fields among the quarterbacks who will benefit from added weapons on offense."

The ratings are based on full-point PPR scoring and Fabiano admits it's not easy to mix in free agents and rookies because they haven't been in their new offense or even the league with rookies.

MICHAEL FABIANO'S UPDATED FANTASY FOOTBALL RANKINGS

Fields is ranked only behind Josh Allen (1st), Patrick Mahomes (2nd), Jalen Hurts (3rd), Joe Burrow (4th), Lamar Jackson (5th) and Justin Herbert (6th).

He's one spot ahead of Trevor Lawrence.

While the free agency moves impacted Fields by letting him move up, the moves themselves didn't result in any really high rankings for returning Bears or even newer Bears players.

For example, DJ Moore is ranked only 27th among wide receivers. He was ranked 13th going into last season with Carolina and although his production declined it was largely the result of an unstable quarterback group. It led to the end of his streak of seasons with at least 1,100 receiving yards at three.

Fabiano has Moore ranked behind Jerry Jeudy and Tyler Lockett.

And while Moore has declined in ranking from when he was in Carolina, Bears receiver Darnell Mooney has plummeted with the addition of someone else to take away targets. Mooney is ranked 54th. He was 28th heading into last season.

While the lower rankings for those two receivers seems to contradict Fields' rise, it's not really the case. Fabiano has Chase Claypool ranked 63rd. With targets to be shared between all three and also another new tight end, it's possible the net effect for some of the receivers will be lower individual totals while the Bears passing game as a whole takes a step forward.

This is reflected by the tight end situation, as well. Tight end Cole Kmet went from 11th heading into last season to 15th now among tight ends even after leading the Bears in catches, receiving yards and touchdown catches last year.

The ball could get distributed differently among tight ends now with Robert Tonyan Jr. on the team, with a more balanced approach than last year when the second and third tight ends together had 12 targets.

The Bears running game doesn't appear to be in a better state, according to Fabiano's fantasy rankings.

Khalil Herbert has moved up greatly from 50th before last season to 28th among running backs.

However, the Bears lost David Montgomery and he is ranked 27th for fantasy ball now with Detroit.

But just like with the pass receivers, they have another back involved. D'Onta Foreman is ranked 48th among fantasy backs.

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