This offseason, the Chicago Bears decided to part ways with former starting quarterback Justin Fields and select a rookie quarterback in the upcoming NFL Draft – presumably Caleb Williams. The Bears likely hoped that it would be a smooth process and they would get a lot in return for him, but that’s not how it worked out.
During an interview at the NFL’s annual league meetings on Monday, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles admitted a brutal truth about the whole Justin Fields situation, revealing that there was truly a “smaller pool of teams” that were interested in trading for Fields.
“As you do research and we have conversations you have to kind of adjust to the market,” Poles said according to Josh Schrock of NBC Sports Chicago. “But I think just with how other teams are built, because if you look at the beginning, there are probably teams that are looking at the draft for guys to fill in. On the back end, playoff teams probably have someone in place. So really it was a smaller pool of teams.”
Ultimately, the Bears ended up trading Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2025.
“I said that at the combine. I wanted to do right by him. We did that,” Poles said.
