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A lot of talk regarding Fields and the other QBs so thought I would focus on a couple of areas that perhaps explains why Nagy is going with Dalton for right now.
1. Time to throw - For all his talent Fields had the longest time to throw in college of the top QB prospects and actually led all players in the preseason in time to throw at 3.50 seconds. This is something to monitor because no good QB has ever had a time to throw that long not even guys like Jackson, Wilson, Allen, or Watson. The highest since PFF has tracked this since 2011 is Wilson in 2012 at 3.35. But the good mobile QBs usually are at 3 seconds. So what this means is that Fields is typically taking about a half second longer than other mobile QBs to read defenses. If you look at the other rookie QBs then Jones is at 2.84, Lance is at 2.74 seconds, Lawrence is at 2.73, Wilson is at 2.61. So he is taking considerably longer than all other rookie QBs to work through progressions. This is preseason and he hasn't played with the 1s as maybe having ARob and Mooney open as his first read lets him get rid of the ball quicker but the point here is, it is something to watch and I have to imagine the coaches would prefer he get down to 3 seconds or so as 3.50 is just historically long.
2. Pressure - Fields was pressured the 6th highest in the preseason at 46.8%. Lawrence was 33%, Lance was 30.2%, Jones was 27.1%, Wilson was 30%. So he has faced way more pressure than the rest. On the bright side, he has led all rookies in passer rating under pressure at 111.6 but not sure that is sustainable over the course of the season if he continues to be pressured half the time. Again, he hasn't played with the 1st string OL but the 1st string OL doesn't look exactly settled. He easily has the worst OL situation of any rookie QB and while the potential for injury has been the focus, the larger problem is the potential for him to pick up bad habits if he loses faith in his OL early.
3. Pressure caused by QB - This is tied to 1 & 2 but PFF also tracks the percentage of pressure the QB is responsible for (taking too long to progress) vs what percentage is on the OL. Again Fields leads the rookie QBs. He was 9th in the preseason in terms of pressure that was deemed to be his fault at 24% with the remaining 76%, the fault of the OL. Lawrence was 14.1%, Jones was 12.5%, while Lance and Wilson was 0%. So not only does Fields have an OL that causes a lot of pressure based on 2 above, he also seems to be responsible for a larger proportion of the pressure against him likely from holding the ball too long as seen in 1 above.
I know Bears fans are giddy and want him in there now but there are differently elements of his game that are concerns at this level. So while I think he can play week 1, I also am not opposed to seeing him get more practice time to improve on his time to throw and allow the OL to settle a bit.
1. Time to throw - For all his talent Fields had the longest time to throw in college of the top QB prospects and actually led all players in the preseason in time to throw at 3.50 seconds. This is something to monitor because no good QB has ever had a time to throw that long not even guys like Jackson, Wilson, Allen, or Watson. The highest since PFF has tracked this since 2011 is Wilson in 2012 at 3.35. But the good mobile QBs usually are at 3 seconds. So what this means is that Fields is typically taking about a half second longer than other mobile QBs to read defenses. If you look at the other rookie QBs then Jones is at 2.84, Lance is at 2.74 seconds, Lawrence is at 2.73, Wilson is at 2.61. So he is taking considerably longer than all other rookie QBs to work through progressions. This is preseason and he hasn't played with the 1s as maybe having ARob and Mooney open as his first read lets him get rid of the ball quicker but the point here is, it is something to watch and I have to imagine the coaches would prefer he get down to 3 seconds or so as 3.50 is just historically long.
2. Pressure - Fields was pressured the 6th highest in the preseason at 46.8%. Lawrence was 33%, Lance was 30.2%, Jones was 27.1%, Wilson was 30%. So he has faced way more pressure than the rest. On the bright side, he has led all rookies in passer rating under pressure at 111.6 but not sure that is sustainable over the course of the season if he continues to be pressured half the time. Again, he hasn't played with the 1st string OL but the 1st string OL doesn't look exactly settled. He easily has the worst OL situation of any rookie QB and while the potential for injury has been the focus, the larger problem is the potential for him to pick up bad habits if he loses faith in his OL early.
3. Pressure caused by QB - This is tied to 1 & 2 but PFF also tracks the percentage of pressure the QB is responsible for (taking too long to progress) vs what percentage is on the OL. Again Fields leads the rookie QBs. He was 9th in the preseason in terms of pressure that was deemed to be his fault at 24% with the remaining 76%, the fault of the OL. Lawrence was 14.1%, Jones was 12.5%, while Lance and Wilson was 0%. So not only does Fields have an OL that causes a lot of pressure based on 2 above, he also seems to be responsible for a larger proportion of the pressure against him likely from holding the ball too long as seen in 1 above.
I know Bears fans are giddy and want him in there now but there are differently elements of his game that are concerns at this level. So while I think he can play week 1, I also am not opposed to seeing him get more practice time to improve on his time to throw and allow the OL to settle a bit.
