Getty New Bears QB Justin Fields.
Eddie Jackson is one happy man. The All-Pro safety for the Chicago Bears was watching the NFL Draft at home on television like the great majority of us, and he, like myriad Bears fans, had a strong reaction when the team moved up to select former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields.
The Bears, who were originally slated to pick at No. 20, instead sent the 20th overall pick, a 2021 fifth-rounder (No. 164 overall), a 2022 first-round pick and a 2022 fourth-rounder to the New York Giants in order to move up to No. 11, which is where they selected Fields.
Jackson happened to share his response via his Instagram, and while those Insta stories don’t last long, Twitter managed to get ahold of his reaction to the Fields pick — and it’s pretty telling.
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Eddie Jackson: ‘About Time We Got Us a QB’
After spending the first four seasons of his career playing with the likes of Mike Glennon, Mitch Trubisky and Nick Foles, Jackson couldn’t hold his excitement back when the selection of Fields was announced.
“About time we got us a real quarterback,” Jackson shouted through cheers as he watched his team’s selection play out live. One savvy Twitter user saved Jackson’s reaction. You can watch it below:
Jackson expressed a sentiment that was felt by Bears fans everywhere, but it’s also a damning condemnation of Trubisky, who is now the backup for the Buffalo Bills, Foles, who is still on the team’s roster and Andy Dalton, who is (technically) the team’s starter even after the selection of Fields. When the Bears signed Dalton to a one-year deal a few months back, the silence from players on the team was deafening. Not one top player welcomed Dalton via social media.
Now, the Bears managed to land one of the premier quarterbacks in the draft, and it’s clear Fields has injected some life into the roster already.
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Fields Won’t Start…Right Away
Jackson wasn’t the only one walking on cloud nine after Fields was picked by Chicago.
“Obviously a lot of excitement throughout our building tonight,” Bears GM Ryan Pace said after nabbing Fields. “We feel really fortunate to be able to get Justin in the area of the draft we were able to select him. The excitement throughout our whole building, you could feel it as I walked down here tonight—what he’s gonna do for the future of our organization.”
The Bears GM did note that the team wasn’t going to throw Fields into the fire — at least not right away, saying head coach Matt Nagy has already spoken to Dalton and told him he was still the team’s starter.
“Matt has spoken to Andy Dalton tonight,” Pace said. “That communication and clarity for us is really important. Andy is our starter, and we’re gonna have a really good plan in place to develop Justin and do what’s best for our organization and win games.”
So the Bears will develop Fields slowly, if possible, with the plan to either roll him out in 2022 or beyond, unless injury or ineptitude were to bite Dalton. Regardless of when he takes the field, though, one thing is for sure: Eddie Jackson, who was every Bears fan for a brief moment, is pretty stoked about his new quarterback, and he’s not alone.
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