In a year that saw five quarterbacks drafted within the first 15 picks of the 2021 NFL Draft, expectations are high for this elite class. While no one has higher expectations than No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence, each of the other four first-round signal-callers have unique situations that they are entering into.
During a recent edition of CBS Sports HQ, former NFL quarterback Brady Quinn pegged Justin Fields as the rookie quarterback not named Trevor Lawrence to have the most successful rookie year. Fields currently sits on the depth chart behind veteran Andy Dalton.
“When you look at his overall skillset, one, he is a true dual-threat quarterback,” Quinn said. “I still don’t know if we ever saw his true capabilities at Ohio State as a runner. I think Matt Nagy at some point is going to be looking at Andy Dalton and him and saying, ‘I’ve got Andy Dalton on a one-year deal, he’s a veteran, I think he can do a good job, but this is my future. If I want to be the head coach here for the future, it’s going to be Justin Fields.’ They need to get him in sooner rather than later, his running ability will be an asset for this team and help them improve that because that’s struggled a little, but also the weapons that they have.”
Generally, quarterbacks who are drafted at No. 12 overall end up starting at some point during their rookie season but Nagy continued to hammer home the point of Dalton being the No. 1 quarterback. ESPN has some big questions, such as when does Fields go in?
Posing questions for all 32 teams in the NFL, the outlet took a look at the biggest question surrounding the Bears this year.
“When does Fields take over for veteran Andy Dalton,” Jeff Dickerson wrote, via ESPN. “Bears coach Matt Nagy made it abundantly clear that Dalton will start Week 1 and Fields will open the year No. 2 on the depth chart. Of course, all of that is subject to change. Fields will play as a rookie, that seems obvious. The hope is that Dalton plays well enough and the Bears win enough games to keep Fields on the bench until perhaps the midway point of the year. The Bears do not want to play Fields before he is ready. But eventually, the switch will be made, and there will be no turning back after that.”
Fields previously said he is confident in the quarterback plan moving forward, despite being the backup at the moment.
“If I don’t believe in it then it’s not going to work out. So my job is strictly to get better, to be the best quarterback I can be, and help my team win,” Fields said, via Larry Hawley of WGN.
After practice earlier in June, Nagy opened up about Fields’ command of the offense.
“His command right now, what he does, he sits back there repeating every word, going through it in his mind like he's going to call the play,” Nagy said to the media. “A big part of that is getting the personnel, understanding the formation … he’s going through all that. I thought today he had a really good day seeing all of that. I thought he spun the ball well. That deep ball down the sideline, he has the mentality to rip your heart out. There's a couple of plays in there where these quarterbacks are staying aggressive and you saw that with Justin...that ball just took off.
“We talk about air time, meaning when the wide receiver looks like he's covered to everyone in the stadium but when that ball hits the ceiling and comes down, the receiver separates. That's what we want to teach off this film, fix fumbles and in and out of the huddle with alignment. That's the quarterback's job to make it right...He's done a great job, Andy (Dalton’s) done a great job, Nick (Foles) will hopefully be back next week but those guys are working hard.”
Nick Kosko contributed to this report.