Justin Fields hasn’t had it easy since he got to the NFL. He arrived on a team falling apart from their brief run of success in 2018. The roster was getting old, and the regime in charge was under a ton of pressure to perform in 2021. Fields got thrust into a bad situation and still managed to have some good moments. It wasn’t enough to save Matt Nagy or Ryan Pace. Soon Ryan Poles arrived and blew up the roster, hoping to rebuild it with help from Matt Eberflus. Unfortunately, that meant Fields would have to endure 2022 without much help.
Somehow, with arguably the worst receiving corps and offensive line in the league, the young quarterback showed improvement across the board. Now he may finally have credible talent around him. He’s in the second year of the same offense. This season should be a positive one for him. Yet expectations around the league remain subdued. Matt Lombardo of Fan Buzz got a tepid response from an NFC executive.
“There’s no reason why he can’t be a poor-man’s Jalen Hurts,” an NFC Personnel Executive told FanBuzz. “That’s the way I saw him coming out of college. I liked Hurts a little more, but I liked both of those guys in terms of their upside. I think they both have enough talent to be franchise quarterbacks, physically. Hurts has proven mentally that he can do it, which is very important. To get to the playoffs and the Super Bowl, that’s huge for a young quarterback.
“I think Fields has a chance. If you put enough talent around him, you can definitely win with him as your quarterback.”
One person didn’t like that assessment.
The quote was presented on Speak for FS1. LeSean McCoy, an outspoken critic of Fields, felt that was an insult to Hurts. Former Green Bay Packers wide receiver James Jones was an insult too—an insult to Fields.
Justin Fields isn’t Hurts. He can be even better.
He’s already on the same level as a runner. We saw that last year when he ripped up the league for 1,143 yards. The primary difference is that Hurts figured out how to become a professional passer. He plays well from the pocket, makes correct reads, and accurately gets the ball out on time. Fields isn’t there yet. He still tends to take off running rather than take shots into tight windows. His tendency not to take checkdowns was also a problem. It appears he’s worked hard in both areas this off-season.
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What Jones said was true. Hurts was helped along by having two stud receivers, a stud tight end, and probably the best offensive line in the league. Justin Fields hasn’t had anything close to any of those things. Cole Kmet was a solid starting point at tight end. GM Ryan Poles worked hard to fix the wide receiver and offensive line issues this off-season. D.J. Moore’s arrival from Carolina should be a massive boost. If the offensive line can hold up, Fields can prove Jones correct.
Justin Fields did not show improvement last year. He was completely incapable of running the Bears offense. They had to switch to a 1 read and run offense because Fields can’t go thru his reads fast enough and get the ball out before he was sacked and fumbled the ball. 100% I don’t care about running around. That’s garbage time. Congrats on being a nifty fantasy player. Fields team is losing games because Fields is a bad passer. The league adjusted again on him and they’ll take that away the running as well. Look at Brock Purdy with the 49ers.… Read more »
Hey — I “can be better” than Jalen Hurts! Than, Justin Fields. Or even Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.
But, there’s only one place on earth that I can prove it.
That’s on an NFL football field — in an NFL game that counts — on the record!
The rest, is personal opinion, bravado and BS.
That comment does sting a little. Fields doesn’t have the numbers or the wins to be considered superior to Hurts but it was this time last year that the experts were talking trash about Hurts. We’ll see how it goes.
LeSean McCoy is appropriately nicknamed: Shady. I haven’t appreciated his takes on Justin Fields from the start. James Jones is absolutely correct. The quote is an insult to Justin. Comparing him to Hurts is fine. But he hasn’t done anything that Justin would be a “poor man’s” version of. Save that kind of talk for HOFers and all-time greats, if at all.