The Justin Fields-to-Pittsburgh speculation isn’t going to slow down anytime soon, even if it might not be all that realistic financially considering how the Steelers have historically done business.
As Steelers Depot’s Alex Kozora laid out Monday morning, the Fields-to-Pittsburgh conversation seems more driven from the national media perspective than it is from the Steelers themselves, based on everything they’ve said this offseason regarding third-year quarterback Kenny Pickett and pending free agent Mason Rudolph.
But that isn’t going to stop the talk about Fields to the Black and Gold, at least until he gets moved to another team.
On Wednesday morning, the Fields-to-Pittsburgh conversation continued, this time with a hypothetical trade package from the Steelers to the Bears constructed by ESPN’s Field Yates.
In the proposed trade package, the Steelers would send a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Bears for Fields.
“While coach Mike Tomlin recently pledged support for quarterback Kenny Pickett, a 2022 first-round pick, I’m not going out on a limb by proclaiming the Steelers need to consider other options,” Yates writes for ESPN.com. “Fields would provide a dynamic dimension to the Steelers’ offense, and I’d be pursuing this aggressively if I were Pittsburgh. The Steelers ranked outside of the top 20 in completion percentage (63.8%), touchdown passes (13), yards per attempt (6.8) and QBR (41.6) last season.”
A second- and a fourth-round pick, albeit in two different drafts, seems a bit rich for a quarterback entering Year 4 with a major financial decision looming, that being a fifth-year option worth nearly $22 million.
However, it’s a similar situation that the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers found themselves in with quarterback Sam Darnold in April 2021.
That year, the Panthers sent a 2021 sixth-round pick, a 2022 second-round pick and a 2022 fourth-round pick to the Jets to acquire Darnold. They followed by picking up his fifth-year option, which guaranteed Darnold more than $18 million for the 2022 season. Of course, that trade didn’t work out for the Panthers as Darnold never put it all together. He spent the 2023 season as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers and is now set to hit unrestricted free agency in mid-March.
So, a precedent is set when it comes to a young, former first-round quarterback heading to the trade market before his rookie contract is up. Fields has shown more flashes than Darnold and is a more dynamic athlete, but with the Bears holding the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, it doesn’t feel like GM Ryan Poles has all that much leverage in a Fields trade.
Therefore, that makes the second- and fourth-round picks in the 2024 and 2025 NFL Drafts that Yates proposes feel a bit steep.
Ideally, if a Fields trade gets done between the Steelers and Bears, it only costs a second-round pick. Or, if the Bears are set on multiple picks, a third this year and a fifth or sixth next year.
But that second- and fourth-round pick seems to be in the ballpark of what it will cost, based on league precedent.
Now, it’s up to the Steelers to actually show interest and make the potential move.
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg certainly wants to see it happen, listing Fields to the Steelers as the No. 3 move he wants to see this offseason, right alongside the New York Giants trading up to acquire Drake Maye in the draft, the Las Vegas Raiders moving up in the draft for a QB, a Stefon Diggs trade to the Dallas Cowboys and a Davante Adams trade to the Jets.
Dave Bryan outlined why a Fields trade to Pittsburgh is unlikely due to the financial implications, but stranger things have happened. We’ll see where Fields ends up landing in a trade away from the Bears. Pittsburgh could be in the mix, though comments from head coach Mike Tomlin and team president and owner Art Rooney II seem to state clearly otherwise.
