Getty Justin Fields #1 of the Ohio State Buckeyes passes against the Clemson Tigers in the first half during the College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Allstate Sugar Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 01, 2021 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Justin Fields might’ve only been the fourth quarterback taken in the 2021 NFL draft, but it would seem at least a quarter of the league believes the Chicago Bears got the best of the bunch — even over No. 1 overall selection Trevor Lawrence.
Following Fields’ selection earlier this spring, NFL Network insider Cynthia Frelund shared some of the insights she gleaned from her conversations with various team scouts about the 2021 draft, including an unexpected revelation about how the league’s scouting personnel viewed Fields as a prospective pro quarterback.
According to Frelund, of the 16 team scouts that spoke with her, eight of them considered Fields to be the best quarterback in the incoming rookie class, rating him better than all three of the passers taken before him, which includes Lawrence at No. 1, Zach Wilson at No. 2 and Trey Lance at No. 3.
“(The Bears) got him at Pick 11, so this is a guy who many believed, at least a quarter of the league believed, was the best quarterback available, better than the guy who went No. 1,” Frelund said. “This is a guy who adds an element of a run game, five scrambling touchdowns, 630 scrambling yards (at Ohio State). He has the clean-pocket, best-passer situation with 54 touchdowns to just four interceptions from that clean pocket.”
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Fields Hype Growing Ahead of Training Camp
Not everyone has been bold enough to question whether Fields could have a better rookie season than Lawrence over in Jacksonville, and there’s probably a good reason for that.
For starters, Fields is pegged as QB2 heading into training camp with Bears head coach Matt Nagy insistent that Andy Dalton remains their starting quarterback. There is no telling exactly when he will see the field, making his production in 2021 difficult to anticipate, whereas Lawrence is the Day 1 starter with the Jaguars and can get started right away on his career as an NFL starter.
Lawrence has also been entirely deserving of his status as a No. 1 overall draft pick. He finished second in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 2020 and only lost two games total in his three seasons at Clemson, setting a school record with 34 career wins.
It has been far more common, though, for someone to pick Fields over the rest of the first-round rookie quarterbacks. Former NFL quarterback Brady Quinn told CBS Sports he believes Fields will be the best of the rookie signal-callers “not named Trevor Lawrence” in the upcoming season, praising him as “a true dual-threat quarterback.”
Other analysts have been pushing Fields as the No. 2 rookie passer since before the draft, an argument that has only added substance since he has arrived in quarterback-starved Chicago and delivered in his early opportunities. That’s not to say the others, including Mac Jones in New England, haven’t looked promising in their respective offseason programs, but expect Fields to contend for the most attention in the preseason when all the rookie passers are out on the real turf.
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Major Justin Fields vs. Trevor Lawrence Draft Info Revealed by NFL Scouts