During an interview at the annual league meeting on Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin provided key insight into the trade with the Chicago Bears for Justin Fields. Tomlin provided a few quotes that should be of interest to a Bears team that needs Fields to pay 51 percent of the Steelers offensive snaps in order to receive the Steelers’ 2025 fourth-round pick.
Many analysts and Bears fans were surprised when the Bears traded Fields to the Steelers for a conditional sixth-round pick. The trade value seemed low for Fields.
The Chicago Bears did right by Justin Fields?
Reports surfaced that general manager Ryan Poles did right by Fields by trading him to a team where he had the potential to start in the future, even though it might cost the Bears a better draft pick. Fields’ representation pushed for Pittsburgh, so the Bears left an offer on the table for higher draft compensation when they agreed to terms with the Steelers.
The Pittsburgh Steelers waited to trade Kenny Pickett until they had Fields
The Philadelphia Eagles were thought of as a team that made sense for the Bears to trade Fields to this offseason. According to Brooke Pryor with ESPN, Tomlin suggests the Bears weren’t trying hard to trade Fields to the Eagles. The Steelers made the decision to trade Kenny Pickett to the Eagles after they were getting ready to pull the trigger on trading with Chicago for Fields:
“From his perspective,” Tomlin said, “[Pickett] felt like a change of scenery would be a good thing. Obviously when we felt the trajectory of the business with Chicago moving in the right direction, those dominoes started falling. I won’t get into specifics about our conversations, but I am appreciative of his efforts during his time in Pittsburgh and I wish him nothing but the absolute best in Philadelphia.”
The Steelers wound up getting better draft compensation from the Eagles for Pickett than the Bears received for trade. Net win for the Steelers.
Much noise has been made about the Bears giving up better draft compensation for Fields to go to Pittsburgh. Also, there has been some confusion as to why Fields’ representation would allow Fields to be traded for less compensation which could theoretically hurt his bargaining power for a future contract.
CCS Media has left multiple messages with Fields’ agent, David Mulugheta, with Athletes First to try to obtain clarity as to why Fields’ representation didn’t want to be traded to other teams willing to pay higher compensation, but they have not responded as of this publishing.
However, there could be other dynamics at play between Fields, the Bears, and the opportunity with the Steelers. Let’s say hypothetically, the Eagles offered a fifth-round pick for Fields. The Bears would have had better draft compensation than a sixth, and Fields’ representation would have given better-assured value, but Fields had no chance to start over Jalen Hurts next season and would have only played if Hurts was injured.
Mike Tomlin: Fields will compete for the QB1 job
Per Tomlin, there is a good possibility Wilson will not be the starter in Week 1 for the Steelers. Tomlin said Sunday he is giving Wilson the same edge at a quarterback competition he would have had over Pickett. Wilson will get the most reps with the first-team unit. Fields will get a chance to learn behind Wilson.
However, Fields will have an opportunity to compete for the starting job in training camp:
“Rest assured when it’s time to compete, Justin will be given an opportunity to compete, and we’ll allow those guys to sort themselves out,” Tomlin said.
Fields will have a chance to play enough snaps for the Bears to receive the fourth-round pick. Should he win the starting job, Fields’ representation would have the chance to bargain for a starter’s salary.
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