Ryan Poles’ latest Justin Fields comments make Bears’ QB decision even more mysterious

It’s still early in the process and no one knows what will happen. chicago bears He will be involved in the No. 1 overall pick. Just 24 hours after reports emerged that the Bears were considering keeping Justin Fields under contract in 2024, general manager Ryan Pauls spoke about how he would use Justin Fields and announced Wednesday It was cloudy. maybe When to trade fields.

There’s a lot to unpack in this short clip. First, the Pole is directly answering the question, so he’s not just tossing it out that he might trade Fields. Still, talking like this is far from an overwhelming vote of confidence in the quarterback. Typically, teams will protect their players and make it clear that they support them, but they won’t go as far as to argue. when The possibility of Field being traded lends credence to the idea that the Bears may be leaning in that direction.

In fact, the Pole is very fair-minded and is more than happy for GMs to take into account the needs of their players. If he waits until halfway through the free agency process to trade Fields, it will be much harder for the team to free up the cap space to work out his contract. Additionally, teams in need of a QB that could be considering Fields may already be moving to address the position in free agency.

However, the timing is very troubling for Chicago. NFL free agency opens on March 12th, and it’s very important for one of the main reasons. No one will see Caleb Williams until USC’s Pro Day on March 20th. Williams, the presumptive No. 1 pick, chose not to participate in NFL scouting combine workouts or pitch for scouts. Teams can learn a lot from film alone, but when selecting a potential franchise quarterback, they need to be as safe and familiar as possible before making a decision.

This means that under the Polish timeline, the team could trade Fields before free agency in early March and then not see Caleb practice until later that month. If that meeting doesn’t go well, the team will be in a tough position, unless of course they believe in Drake Maye.

This will be a storyline to watch all spring leading up to the draft. It’s unclear what the Bears will do, and it’s unclear if the Bears even know what they plan to do.