This weekend, Justin Fields was traded from the Chicago Bears to the Pittsburgh Steelers in return for a conditional sixth-round pick. And despite reports that suggested there were multiple other suitors for Fields, NFL insider Adam Schefter insists that the package the Bears got in return for Fields was about as good as they were going to get.
During a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Adam Schefter seemed to shoot down reports suggesting that the Bears passed up better offers in order to send Justin Fields to Pittsburgh, where he wanted to be traded. According to Schefter, they Bears simply didn’t have strong offers for Fields, and they would have accepted one if they did.
“Basically, there were teams at various points that might have had some interest in Justin Fields, but if the Bears had a better off, a strong offer for Justin Fields, I think they would have acted upon that,” Schefter said.
"There were teams at various point that might've had some interest in Justin Fields but if the Bears had a strong offer I think they would've acted upon that..
Justin Fields wanted to go to Pittsburgh and they accommodated him" ~ @AdamSchefter#PMSLive pic.twitter.com/M9NZkA7GCn
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 18, 2024
“Yes, he did want to go to Pittsburgh – that was his preference. But the fact of the matter also is that they unloaded him for a sixth-round pick in 2025 that could go up to a fourth-round pick. He wanted to go there, and they accommodated him in the end. But if there was a team out there offering the Sam Darnold package – [a second-round, a fourth-round, and a sixth-round pick] – I think they would have done that. But they didn’t have it. They didn’t have it from anybody else.”
Given that they didn’t really have trade partners, Schefter said the team just went ahead and traded Fields to the Steelers – where Fields wanted to be traded.
“So when they didn’t have strong offers, and other teams that were out there filled their quarterback needs, they went ahead and acquiesced, and essentially said to him ‘Okay, yeah. We’ll send you to Pittsburgh, and we’ll send you a conditional sixth-round pick that could go up to a [fourth-round pick].”
