Bears TRADE Justin Fields to Steelers | CBS Sports

we got some breaking news out of the NFL

the Chicago Bears are trading

quarterback Justin fields to the

Steelers this according to senior NFL

Insider Jonathan Jones in return the

Bears reportedly getting a sixth round

pick that becomes a fourth rounder based

on playing time that is per ESPN the

move comes with the Bears holding the

number one overall pick and quarterback

Caleb Williams considered the favorite

candidate to go to Chicago Fields joins

uh Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh Wilson

signed with the Steelers earlier this

week Pittsburgh also traded last year's

starter Kenny picket to the Eagles so we

got a new quarterback room in Steel

City and let's welcome in CBS Sports NFL

Rider Ryan Wilson fields to the Steelers

after Russell Wilson is going to

Pittsburgh what do you make of this move

for the Bears point of view and from the

Steelers point of

view well in terms of the Bears Russ

what they're going to do it's it's quite

clear you touched on a kaya Williams

going to be the guy number one they pick

again at number nine and we'll see what

happens there whether it's offensive

lineman defensive Edge rusher or wide

receiver but for the Steelers uh it's

been a lot of moving and shaking over

the last 48 hours or so you mentioned

Kenny picket was traded uh the reports

coming out of Pittsburgh is that he he

wasn't excited about the idea of sharing

reps with Russell Wilson it goes back to

week 17 of the regular season where he

opted not to dress uh after Mason

Rudolph was named the starter and Kenny

picket was returning from injury and it

sounds like it's snowball from there the

the quarterback they drafted two years

ago to be the franchise at number 20

overall is now in Philadelphia as a

backup there and the Steelers aren't

messing around they moved on from

Deontay Johnson the wide receiver as

well they traded him to Carolina which

needed some wide receiver help in return

they got Dante Jackson the cornerback

which feels a need on the roster in

Pittsburgh after moving on from Patrick

Peterson and now you have Russell Wilson

who according to reports appears to be

the starter we'll see uh we have yet to

have the draft and then just Fields who

has one year left on his rookie deal

they're going to be paying peanuts a

combined 4 million in change it sounds

like for both quarterbacks uh who here's

the crazy thing about the NFL Russ if

you go back to when Justin Fields was

drafted in the top 15 and when Russ

Wilson signed that huge deal with Denver

a few years ago and if I came to you

from the future and said hey man in two

years the Russell Wilson's and the

Justin fields are going to be in the

Steelers you would ask me what could

have possibly happen to get us to this

point uh it turns out things didn't go

well for us and things didn't go great

for Justin either but they get fresh

starts in Pittsburgh uh a team that now

has two exciting quarterbacks

potentially going in different

directions in terms of their age uh but

it's certainly different than what was

to start the season a year ago with

let's see here kitty picket Mitchell

trais and of course Mason Rudolph all

now on different teams than Pittsburgh

you know you mentioned how relatively

little the Steelers are going to pay for

two starting quarterbacks they're only

responsible for the league minimum

portion of Russell Wilson's deal the

rest of which is going to be picked up

by his old team the Denver Broncos I can

almost guarantee you that they're going

to say it's a quarterback competition

going into this I would think that's

what's going to come out of of

Pittsburgh how realistic of a chance

though do you think Justin Fields has to

overtake Russell Wilson considering that

it's not like they're dumping money if

if Russ can't go number

one yeah it feels like it should be a

wide open competition I only hesitate

because Jerry duck the longtime beat

reporter out of Pittsburgh uh sent out

tweet not too long ago saying that Russ

is going to be the number one as we sit

here but again it's the middle of March

a lock and Chains No One thought that

Mason Rudolph would finish the season

last year for the Pittsburgh Steelers

and not only finish the season but be

the best quarterback on that roster so

given the way Russell played the last

two years in Denver and last year was a

little better than the year before

granted and given the upside that we've

been talking about Justin fields for

years now it feels like it should be a

wideopen competition there are things

that those quarterbacks do well and

there are things that those quarterbacks

struggle with so we'll have to see how

this plays out in Arthur Smith offense

the new offensive coordinator taking up

from Matt Canada Smith of course was a

longtime head coach in Atlanta prior to

that being the Titans offensive

coordinator he feels like a better OC

right now in his NFL Journey than head

coach and I think he has an opportunity

uh to get this offense back to where it

was before Matt Canada was in the mixed

colum plays now they don't have Deontay

Johnson so there's a very good chance to

pick 20 they can look at wide receiver

there's also a better chance they look

at offensive line so now you have last

year's first round pick and brri Jones

playing left tackle you could draft his

teammate of Marius Mims uh if he's

available the guard The Tackle out of

Georgia to play on the right side and

now you're protecting Russ Andor Justin

Fields you're going to have a run game

that Arthur Smith's can to be very

interested in using that stars na Harris

and Jaylen Warren and suddenly this

offense looks a lot different than it

did a year ago the defense should be

fine it all starts for TJ wide but maybe

this team is going to be more

competitive than it was last year when

it surprised a lot of people won 10

games and made its way into the playoffs

tough division too when you consider the

other quarterbacks around the division

as well what do you make of the return

here we're talking about a sixth round

pick that could go as high as a fourth

round pick based on playing

time are you surprised at all by by how

little or or does just seem about

right Russ I'm not surprised now if

you'd asked this a week ago I would have

been shocked because I I spoke to to

Brian mcfaden our guy CB Sports HQ who

also played for the Steelers won two

Super Bowls and I said what how does it

sound for a second round pick and maybe

some change for Justin fields and I had

this conversation with him a week ago on

air and he said yeah that sounds about

right and here we are fast forward 7 to

10 days and the price of Poker has gone

all the way down to a sixth round pick

that maybe becomes a fourth round pick

in 2025 based on playing time and I

think that tells you how the league felt

about Justin fields and Justin Fields

came out he was the fourth quarterback

taken in that draft class of five that

went in the first round starting with

Trevor Lawrence and ending with M Jones

uh all of those quarterbacks not named

Trevor Lawrence are now on different

teams which tells you how uh volatile

the quarterback marking can be but I

think the NFL made it clear that Justin

Fields was not worth a second round pick

or a third or a fourth or a fifth and it

took a six round pick and clear that's a

roster in the quarterback room for

Pittsburgh uh for an opportunity for

Justin fields to move on from Chicago

but this is good news for the Bears and

that they don't have to worry about

having Justin fields and Caleb Williams

in the building together uh as they move

forward with their franchise quarterback

it's good news for Justin Fields getting

a fresh start and maybe the Steelers can

get the most out of his abilities and as

you point out just a moment ago Russ it

now comes down to who wins this

quarterback battle uh in Pittsburgh

where the it's crazy because Big Ben was

there from 2004 to just a few years ago

Kenny picket didn't work out and now the

Steelers are looking for uh their next

starting quarterback in that post big

bin world and it could be Russ it could

be Justin or who knows maybe they draft

the quarterback at 20 and there's a

third third name in the mix as well well

only time will'll tell what comes of

this trade but for the time being Ryan

going to ask you to grade this

trade oh this is an A+ so you get Russ

Wilson and Steelers fans are coming

around to talking themselves into into

Russell being the guy he is an upgrade

Over Kenny picket even if it's a

marginal upgrade and look they're holing

in this game no doubt about it but now

you bring in Justin Fields who does all

the things you want a Young quarterback

in the NFL to do he's incredibly

athletic he has a big arm he can do a

lot of things in space he has to get

better inside the pocket and maybe

that's something Arthur Smith can help

him with but the price the 1.2 million

for one year for Russell the six round

pick that maybe becomes a fourth based

on playing time for Justin those feel

like layup UPS uh very rarely you can

get two starting caliber quarterbacks on

your on your roster for less than $5

million combined and the Steelers have

done that in 2024 so I think you have to

feel good about it and you could argue

that both these quarterbacks are an

upgrade Over Kenny picket even if it's

at the margins but that's that's a step

in the right directions for Steelers

fans many of whom have become frustrated

with the lack of quarterback play and

and how the offense was called with the

previous offensive coordinator so give

Omar Khan that the general manager

credit give Mike tman the head coach

credit for realizing the mistakes have

been made and moving on from those

mistakes instead of Leaning into them

which it felt like in years past R said

the team was sometimes stubborn to to to

go forward in the face of mistakes this

year feels completely different and I

think this team is going to look

completely different on the opposite

side of the ball for sure and as these

uh these stories continue to evolve as

breaking news happens we're now learning

that the Steelers are coming out and it

looks like Russell Wilson will be the

number one quarterback in that QB room

going in but of course all of these

things are evolving as we go it's a

fluid situation that's why we thank Ryan

Wilson our CBS Sports NFL Ridder for

joining us is Justin Fields is going to

be traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers

according to our Jonathan Jones and you

can hear more from Ryan along with Rick

Spielman they've got the with the first

pick podcast which makes total sense to

be listening to all the time right now

as we get ready for the NFL draft of

course this move will portend to a lot

what happens at the top of the NFL draft

with the Chicago Bears

who are on the clock with the number one

overall pickets with the first pick

podcast Brian Wilson and Rick Spielman

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