QB Justin Fields reportedly agrees to terms on 4-year rookie contract with Bears
CHICAGO — Justin Fields unleashed a pass down the left sideline of a Halas Hall field Wednesday, and observers at the Chicago Bears practice perked up.
New Bears wide receiver Damiere Byrd caught the deep ball as teammates cheered to complete the highlight-reel play during the second week of organized team activities.
The kickoff for the Bears season still is three months away, and the development process for Fields is in its earliest phase. But such plays must have Bears coaches dreaming of what could come in the years ahead.
“He has that mentality of ‘rip your heart out,’” Bears coach Matt Nagy said of Fields’ deep ball.
As Fields put in the work on the field, he also took care of some business off it Thursday, agreeing to terms on his four-year rookie contract, NFL Network reported. The contract, which is largely determined by the NFL’s rookie wage scale, is for a fully guaranteed $18.872 million with an $11.085 million signing bonus. NFL contracts for players selected in the first round also have fifth-year team options.
The Bears traded up from No. 20 to No. 11 in late April to draft Fields as their quarterback of the future.
The former Ohio State quarterback has been training with the Bears since rookie minicamp in early May, including participating in OTAs the last two weeks. For now, Fields is taking No. 2 reps in practice behind veteran Andy Dalton, whom the Bears signed to be their starter in March, and Nagy has stressed Fields won’t be moved into the starting role until coaches feel it’s the right time.
Nagy explained Wednesday how Fields learns behind Dalton this early in the development process.
“He sits back there with (quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo) when Andy is running the show and he’s back there repeating every word and he’s flipping it and he’s going through in his mind how to call the play — like he’s in the huddle,” Nagy said. “The big part of that is getting the right personnel, understanding the formations. Where’s the ball at? It’s on the left hash, right hash, middle of the field, first wide vision. And so he’s going through all of that. Today he had a real good day of seeing that.”
Nagy also complimented Fields on that long pass to Byrd. Fields’ deep ball was a major attraction for the Bears before the draft, and he already is making an impression with it at practices, though right now the plays are coming against mostly backup defensive players.
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney called it “a beautiful ball.”
“The very first one that he threw to me I was smiling mid-route (at) just seeing the ball in the air and just how, where it was placed,” Mooney said. “He’s very accurate with his ball and he understands exactly where he wants to place the ball.”
Fields also dropped a couple of snaps in Wednesday’s practice, but Nagy said those are some of the issues the Bears can try to iron out before they get to training camp. The Bears continue their offseason program next week with a three-day mandatory minicamp.
“A lot of these times right now with these players, in particular Justin, there’s a lot of mental reps,” Nagy said. “You get the mental side down in the offseason. You’re able to come out here on the grass and see what the timing is like. As you saw today, there were some issues with snaps. Those are little things that we can try to tune up and get ready for training camp so that doesn’t happen. But now what we want to do is say, ‘OK, this is what you’ve done. This is where you can grow. Let’s see if that happens now in training camp.’ ”
Fields is the sixth draft pick to agree to terms on his rookie contract with the Bears. Offensive lineman Larry Borom, cornerback Thomas Graham Jr., running back Khalil Herbert, wide receiver Dazz Newsome and defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga signed last week. Second-round pick Teven Jenkins is the only drafted rookie who hasn’t agreed to sign yet.
