Bear Digest

Game of Musical Chairs Coming for Bears

Analysis: Could Bears GM Ryan Poles re-think what he said about not wanting to make Justin Fields "live in the gray," if a draft day trade scenario looks better?

Gene Chamberlain

Game of Musical Chairs Coming for Bears
Game of Musical Chairs Coming for Bears /
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At this point, you have to wonder if Ryan Poles is rethinking things.

He wouldn't be changing his mind on spending the first pick of the draft for Caleb Williams. Rather, it's possible he might have to reconsider his statement about not wanting to make Justin Fields "live in the gray."

The Bears have Fields in "the gray," as Poles put it, because he doesn't know where or if he's even being traded.

Right now they've shown obvious interest in drafting Caleb Williams.

If they trade Fields, it likely would come before Tuesday ends because on Wednesday when the contracts can officially be signed, a primary landing spot for Fields could be gone.

Kirk Cousins' contract voids after the new league year begins and accelerates all of the remaining prorated bonus money against the Vikings salary cap. They can prevent this from happening by signing him to a contract extension. So they'll obviously want to decide whether they're retaining him on an extension quickly or let him leave as a free agent for another team, presumably Atlanta.

Once that happens, if Pittsburgh does as has been rumored and pursues Russell Wilson, the Bears could be without a place to trade Fields.  That is, unless they want to deal him to the division rival Vikings.

A picture painted by Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio during an appearance on WSCR AM-670's Bernstein & Holmes Show is the nightmare scenario for the current Bears QB.

Florio said the Bears need to trade Fields now, or at least before March 11, and take what they can get or face holding him until April 25 or 26 after Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft draft.

IS KIRK COUSINS REALLY GOING TO ATLANTA?

At that point, teams who wanted a quarterback might find they still don't have one and suddenly there would be a secondary market for Fields on Day 2 of the draft, April 26.

So the Bears have to play a game of musical chairs on March 11 unless they can trade him immediately.

"You've got to be in that main stream, that game of musical chairs, if you're the Bears as teams are filling these spots because by Tuesday (March 12), where's the spot going to be?'" Florio told Dan Bernstein  and Leila Rahimi. "And then what they'd have to do if the chairs fill up with veteran quarterbacks who are available without a trade, then what you've got to do is you've got to wait until after Round 1 of the draft and hope that a team that had said, 'we'll just get our quarterback there,' doesn't get the guy they want and a market for a second-round pick in that 18 hours between the end of Round 1 and the start of Round 2. That's a hell of a risk."

It might not actually be so big of a risk from the Bears' standpoint as from Fields' standpoint. It's just going to mean a lower draft pick for the Bears.

However, for Fields it's two months of waiting when he could be focusing on a particular offense or battle for starting position.

The Bears already look to be facing a minimal market for Fields and a probable lower return on their trade. It would be difficult to envision it being worse after the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft, but that is possible.

It might mean taking a pick for next year from some team or it might mean they actually do get a second-rounder if some team really has become desperate.

Odds are someone will be needy at that point.

Even with a supply of six quarterbacks who could be Round 1 picks, it might not sufficiently meet the needs of every team. The first three QBs will be taken at this time by the Bears, Commanders and Patriots. Then there are three other QBs with first-round potential.

Besides the teams being mentioned as possible landing spots for Fields—Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Las Vegas—there are other teams who need another quarterback either as a starter or the challenger. Other teams like this include the N.Y. Giants, the N.Y. Jets, Denver, Tennessee, Seattle and even San Francisco.

The Giants obviously are not enamored with Daniel Jones. The Jets have a 40-year-old QB coming off an Achilles tendon injury. The Broncos have no QB. Ryan Tannehill is a free agent. And the Titans have a second-year QB with very little experience. Seattle has a veteran starter and could use a younger understudy or challenger. The 49ers have Brock Purdy and, if you listen to some people, he's the worst NFC champion QB of all time. It's a ridiculous notion but viewed this way by some.

So even with players like Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson, Jimmy Garoppolo and Joe Flacco in the marketplace, there could be teams that emerge from this game of musical chairs after Round 1 who would love to give up a second-rounder for Fields. It might be worth the wait if they're not finding someone who will give them a pick this high now. Then again, it could all blow up in their faces.

The other problem with this, of course, is that Poles said at the combine he didn't expect Fields wanted to "live in the gray."

Leaving Fields uncertain about his next team until almost May would mean a horrible next two months from his standpoint.

For the Bears, though, it's posssible there would be merit with the method when a chance exists to come up with the second-round pick they currently lack.

It's also possible they couldn't get a second-rounder for Fields then and would take a third-rounder. 

They have one third-rounder and two fourth-rounders at the moment. Trading a third and a fourth might allow them to get up into Round 2, or it's also possible to get an extra pick somewhere in Day 2 by trading down in Round 1 and then dealing back up into Round 2.

Either way, it could all mean sitting and waiting "in the gray" for the Bears to play musical chairs with Fields' future.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.

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