Why Bears GM Ryan Poles chose Justin Fields over drafting a rookie QB
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Earlier this offseason, speculation about quarterback Justin Fields’ future with the Bears dominated headlines. Which, on the surface, seemed ridiculous.
After all, Fields established himself as one of the most exciting players in the NFL with little help around him. But, when it broke down, Chicago was in a unique position with the No. 1 pick that would give them their choice of quarterback — if they opted to go that direction.
General manager Ryan Poles silenced the Fields trade speculation when he traded the first overall pick to the Panthers for two first-round picks, two second-round selections and wide receiver DJ Moore. More than that, Poles put his faith behind Fields with the move.
So why did Poles choose to stick with Fields instead of starting over with a rookie?
‘‘I really needed something to take me so far above Justin where we didn’t want to look behind the curtain and see how this was going to play out,’’ he said at the NFL owners meetings, via the Sun-Times. ‘‘I feel really good about Justin; still do. I think these quarterback prospects are going to have good careers, too.’’
Poles did his due diligence on this quarterback draft class — as any good GM would — and ultimately he wasn’t “absolutely blown away” by one of them to the point where he believed they were a better option than Fields.
‘‘I think having [Fields] in the building and seeing the progress he made in this first year, getting familiar with our system, there’s special and athletic traits,’’ Poles said. ‘‘We’ve seen in college his ability to use his arm, too. I believe when all that comes together, we can have something special.’’
