Getty The Seahawks could be an ideal destination for Justin Fields.
The Seattle Seahawks may be an ideal landing spot for the top available quarterback left on the market.
As urged by ESPN’s Louis Riddick, the Seahawks should make a move for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields. Fields remains available, but the market hasn’t been hot for the 25-year-old quarterback.
“Go and get Justin Fields #Seahawks …. I have been saying it all day,” writes Riddick. “You have one QB on the roster. Let him compete.”
Why Seahawks Could Make a Move for Justin Fields
The idea of the Seahawks negotiating a trade for Fields isn’t crazy. They’re in one of the best financial shapes of any team in the NFL with nearly $46 million in available salary cap space – the sixth-most of any team in the league.
Furthermore, while Seattle plans to bring Geno Smith back for another season, they have to commit to him as the starting quarterback under new head coach Mike Macdonald. To top it all of, former backup quarterback Drew Lock signed a deal with the New York Giants.
Since the beginning of free agency, the Seahawks have been one of three teams – the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers being the others – that haven’t signed an outside free agent. That means they could easily afford Fields’ cap hit, which is just $6 million for the upcoming season.
Riddick isn’t the only analyst to point out how the Seahawks are one of the few remaining teams that make sense for Fields in a dwindling market. Most of the teams looking for a quarterback – -such as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons – have already filled their void for the 2024 season.
That should mean the Bears are more desperate to trade the dual-threat quarterback with it appearing more likely that Chicago targets Caleb Williams with the top pick in the 2024 NFL draft.
Seahawks Yet to Have Shown ‘Serious Interest’ in Justin Fields
Ari Meirov of The 33rd Team actually mentions the Seahawks as a potential destination; however, he mentions they haven’t shown “serious interest.”
“Many people thought [the Bears] could probably get a second-round pick for [Fields]. But here we are, after a day of free agency and so many moves, [and] it is starting to become really hard to figure out where is a Justin Fields’ destination,” Meirov said. “The [Denver] Broncos — it does not sound like they have much interest. Maybe if the price goes down. We’ll see about that. Then the one team that people have thought maybe could make sense is the Seattle Seahawks, but up until now it doesn’t feel like they’ve had serious interest.”
With the Seahawks under a new regime and having unloaded several of their former key veterans, they’re likely looking for a new franchise quarterback. While some mock drafts have Seattle pegged as drafting a quarterback in the first round, they could consider parting with a third or fourth-round pick for Fields.
“Could Chicago maybe get a little bit creative?” Meirov said. “They wanted a second-round pick. Maybe they’ll have to settle for a fourth-round pick, but put some conditions on [that] pick — like it becomes a third if he plays a specific amount of snaps, [or] it becomes a second if [the team] makes the playoffs.”
While Fields clearly has strides to make as a passer – his 61.4% completion rate ranked 29th among all quarterbacks last season – his ability to run the football and his ceiling makes him an appealing option for teams that need a quarterback. His 178 rushing yards in a single game is an NFL record and he’s one of just three quarterbacks to rush for 1,000 yards in a single season.
If the Seahawks decide that Fields is a better option than one of the second-tier quarterbacks in the draft, they could flip a Day 3 pick in exchange for the athletic QB.