Bears fans: Fields is the guy! me: I need to see more consistent passing productivity Bears fans: and we would break the bank for him now! me: no, too soon Bears fans: that’s mind boggling! We need some sanity back here. Mongo where art thou?
Who’s asking to extend Fields right now though? You just wanna argue to argue and you’re making up your own argument as you go.
blang seriously….fuck off with this childish bullshit. no one….literally fucking no one….is saying extend him right now. What’s being said is that he’s shown enough to stick with him and he should be what the team builds around. Go change your fucking diaper.
"If Fields contract were up right now....I would sign him." I'll pass on that after only 22 games. Cool, that's what we all think. Thankfully I'm not as old as you are and don't need them. But appreciate the concern.
Both hypotheticals suck tbh. I blame Ev for leading us down the path. We agree to build around the guy for next year. We don't agree on "the guy" part. That's all you got? Maybe age is catching up to you, I've come to expect better internet insults from you than that!
What would you sign him for though? I cannot imagine he would demand $40m/yr right now, it would be a lower number that I think most of us would agree with. I feel like I led us down this path, because you said, "he's the guy" which I was conflating with so many people putting him down, in marker, as a franchise QB for the next decade. The way I read your posts after, your "he's the guy" means for the next 2-3 years and we commit to building around him, which I don't think Poles was sold on before the year began, based on how little support he got him. That I agree with, he has earned the rest of his rookie contract which I was not sure of when the season began. That's not to say he couldn't regress hard too. So again, not to speak for blang, but for me: 1. Justin has earned the chance to show more the next few years for sure. The potential is there and he's not throwing like the worst QB in history like he was in the beginning of the season. 2. I am not convinced at all that he is the answer at QB forever yet. Thankfully, that decision is a few years out. We do NOT need to draft a QB this year and we should get a haul if we draft high enough.
Oof, just looking at overthecap: Quarterback Contracts and Salaries | Over The Cap Fields probably would command at least $30m/year. QBs, they aren't cheap. Glad we have some time before that bill comes due.
Actually varder started things off on the hypotheticals front and as i explained which you couldn't grasp, my post was in direct relation to that. The 3 pages since has been you pulling a number out your ass, running with it and generally acting like a bit of a baby. Poles has a chance to manage this situation incredibly effectively. A better chance than most GM's ever get tbh. With a mountain of cap space its very important the contracts this offseason, both FA's & extensions, are front loaded as much as possible. I actually expect Poles won't go completely batshit with the spending this offseason and there may be pretty good carry over to 2024 which means(to a slightly lesser extent) you can apply this tactic to the following offseason as well. That would be totally fine. The key is staying ahead of the wave, getting the guaranteed $ and dead cap hits out the way early in contracts, which Pace utterly sucked at and is normally challenging for most GMs but due to circumstance won't be a problem for Poles in his year 2 and hopefully year 3. If you do that then assuming Fields has earned it by the time you come to extend him, because you've managed your cap well that number can be absorbed far more painlessly than most times a QB gets a big bag. You can even take it one step further and say if Fields is able to take a significant step in year 3 then you have the chance to strengthen your long term cap position even further by extending him early. Its all about establishing if he's the long term guy and the sooner you can do that(this actually applies to basically any player) the more time you will have to spread money out and ultimately bring make the individual and overall cap situation more manageable. Allen Robinson is a classic example of that btw. It was clear by midway thru 2019 season he was your #1 but you only had him under contract for another 18months. It they'd extended him then, the AAV of that deal would've been lower due to later cap inflation which affects player $ demands AND you would've had more time to spread out the money. Fields could have a #1 right now and he could be costing millions of $ a season less than the numbers they ultimately couldn't agree on. There's always a double benefit to paying guys early, you just have to 1- Know they're the guy and be right & 2- Be on top of your cap situation enough to be able to pay early. And i guess 3- Hope they don't stop caring once they get paid heh, which is v hard to predict but does happen with some players.
I apologize for my role in going down the rabbit hole of hypotheticals and derailing the conversation. As for this Sunday, I'm not comfortable with Flus leaving the decision of whether or not to play up to Fields. Because Fields is probably going to fight through it when he shouldn't.
I'm not convinced he's the QB of the Bears future either, and if his contract were up this year I sure wouldn't sign him to an extension, but it's not. He has shown progress in growing into the position from where he was at the start of the season so I think he has shown enough that the Bears shouldn't have to consider drafting a QB in this draft and instead put some pieces around him and give him a valid chance. You don't cut off your nose to spite your face, at some point a team needs to take a chance otherwise your just spinning your wheels. What Fields has done with his feet is remarkable and that's cool, but IMO it's not sustainable, and at some point in the next year or two he has to prove he is a consistently capable passer and one that could also inflict damage with his feet instead of being a one-trick pony. When he can prove that I'm on board, but he certainly by no means is there yet. The Bears still have time to put some pieces around him, and figure it all out. In typical Bears fashion, they tried to build from the ceiling down, but if they now spent a couple of years putting in a foundation around him they might find they have something with Fields, and if nothing else, it should in theory make it easier for the next QB coming in.
I know, I did it again, I'll stop now. We don't need to worry about hypotheticals because Fields is in the 2nd year of his (up to) 5 year contract, and I think we all agree we'll get to see plenty more from him, good or bad, and the arrow right now is definitely pointing up. That's enough. Unless we play him and he further hurts the shoulder requiring surgery or causing bad throwing mechanics, etc. I really don't think he should play this week at the least. There's no reason to risk his development and the future of his career over a lost season in a game against the Jets of all teams. And how much worse could it be? Look at the Jets, Wilson was drafted #2 of the *same class* as Fields and just benched. We definitely don't have that kind of drama.
Let's play one more hypothetical before I break out the Wild Turkey. I think the game where Fields began to find confidence this season was Minnesota. So using that game through this past Sunday and taking those stats with the biased presumption he would continue to play like that the rest of the season had he not gotten hurt....his end of season stats would look like this.... 61% passes completed. 2600 yards. 22 touchdowns. 11 picks. 1400 yards rushing with an additional 10 touchdowns. This a guy that will start next season being 24 years of age and those stats are in his first season in a new offense....his third offense in 3 years. With almost no help around him. You aren't going to resign the guy that did this? You're gonna take your chances and draft someone instead? That's all I got. Happy Thanksgiving assholes.
Nope, not at 40 million because if this was the last year of his deal and that is all he's shown me in the course of 4 years I think it's time to move on. I need a bigger snapshot than just a few decent games. That's not what's happening here though, we have two years possibly three left to see if putting some capable bodies around him will bring out his game. Aside from his feet, there is nothing that blows me away about the total package, yet. So let me ask you this, if you were the GM and you were convinced this guy is the future franchise QB and you had the ability to renegotiate his rookie deal and extend him based on his play so far, would you do it?
For starters you’re not allowed to change my hypothetical and add 2 years he hasn’t played yet. And yes if there were some clause in contracts that allowed agents to trigger renegotiation halfway through a rookie deal…..I would do whatever I could to keep Fields under contract at the right price.
Why not other than the fact you said so. If you can get hypothetical so can I. If you can ask would I resign him before he plays those two remaining years I would say no. If I determined there was no future with Fields at this point I would draft a QB this year but I'm not there yet. The Bears have two years to figure it out. If this were year 4 and this is all we got then I'd be done completely.
Either this kid heals fast or the bears are making a really fucking stupid decision based on how they had Fields describe his injury in that presser and he described his AC joint with ligament tears. Simien also opts for season ending surgery on his oblique. Peter Pan Is backing up Sunday.
