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The 2024 NFL Draft is expected to be loaded with top quarterback talent but with the Las Vegas Raiders slated to pick at No. 11, per Tankathon, the team could look at veteran options. The most intriguing veteran option who could be available is Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields.
Fields has shown flashes of franchise quarterback potential the last two seasons but his 10-27 career record as a starter could lead to the Bears using the No. 1 pick to add a rookie quarterback. If that happens, Alex Kay of Bleacher Report believes the Raiders should send a 2024 third-round pick to Chicago to add the quarterback.
“The Chicago Bears would be an ideal candidate to do business with,” Kay wrote in a January 2 column. “The Bears have found themselves in the unenviable situation of having to choose between retaining incumbent starting quarterback Justin Fields or shipping him off and forging ahead with a prospect they can land with the No. 1 overall pick. If Chicago opts for the latter strategy, the Raiders would be wise to capitalize on Fields’ availability.”
A third-round pick would be a very small risk for the Raiders to take on a player who could be the quarterback of the future.
Fair Trade for Justin Fields?
Justin Fields is still only 24 and has spent most of his career playing on a bad roster. The Bears have come alive in recent weeks and have won four of their last five. For the first time in Fields’ career, the team has some momentum.
This should only help Fields’ trade value should the Bears decide to move on. However, a third-round pick may be enough to get a deal done, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler and Courtney Cronin.
“The consensus in an informal poll of league evaluators is that Fields would be worth a second- or third-round pick in a pre-draft trade,” Fowler and Cronin wrote in a January 2 column. “When compared to former top-10 picks recently traded, that’s better than Trey Lance, whom Dallas acquired from San Francisco for a fourth-round pick, but slightly worse than Sam Darnold, who, along with a sixth-round pick, went from the Jets to Carolina for second- and fourth-rounders.”
Fields could be a star but he’s been too inconsistent for the Bears to expect a big haul. He’s never thrown for more than 2,500 yards in a season and missed games due to injury this year. Plus, there’s a big contract decision looking over him.
Justin Fields or Drafting a QB?
The biggest issue with trading for Justin Fields is that whoever adds him will have to decide on the fifth-year option for his contract. Over the Cap projects that Fields’ option will be worth nearly $22 million and that’s fully guaranteed.
That’s not a big price to pay if he ends up being a franchise quarterback but if he falls flat, that money would be a serious issue. For the Raiders, it may be time to invest in a rookie. The team will have a $28 million dead cap hit from Jimmy Garoppolo if he’s cut this season and they are 3oth in defensive spending, per Spotrac.
Getting a rookie quarterback gives the Raiders at least four years of a reasonable contract, which would allow them to spend more money on the defense.
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