Getty The Buccaneers could be a potential landing spot for Bears QB Justin Fields if he becomes available.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be a surprising potential destination for one of the top playmakers at quarterback.
As proposed by CBS Sports’ Josh Edwards, the Chicago Bears could shop starting quarterback Justin Fields during the 2023 NFL draft. One of the hypothetical scenarios that Edwards proposes sees the Bears select a quarterback with the No. 1 overall draft pick while choosing to trade Fields to a quarterback-needy team.
In this scenario, the Bears draft one of the three highly-rated quarterbacks — C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young or Will Levis — and then trade Fields to a team such as the Buccaneers.
“In this hypothetical, Chicago has taken a quarterback No. 1 overall,” says Edwards. “One of the perceived top-three quarterback prospects (Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Kentucky’s Will Levis) is off the board, which leaves quarterback-needy teams like Houston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Carolina and potentially Detroit and Seattle jockeying for those available players. The aforementioned teams that do not land one of those three rookie quarterbacks could be interested in Fields. Tampa Bay and Washington are a few others that may also be in the mix.”
Justin Fields is Special QB Due to Running Ability
This scenario is a big hypothetical dependent on whether or not the Bears actually make Fields available. The second-year quarterback is coming off of a huge season for the 3-14 Bears, rushing for 1,143 yards in just 15 games, leading the league in rushing, while also running for the second-most yards in a single season by a quarterback in NFL history.
Fields also just so happened to set the single-game rushing record for a quarterback with 178 rushing yards in a Week 9 game against the Miami Dolphins.
With that being said, as special of a talent as Fields may be, the Bears’ current leadership group — general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus — have little attachment to Fields considering neither was around when he was drafted in 2021.
When also factoring in that the Bears finished with the league’s worst record despite Fields’ special talents, Chicago may find it better to rebuild and stock up on assets by trading Fields.
Why the Buccaneers Are Not Likely to Make Trade for Fields
The question is, would the Buccaneers be interested?
Tampa Bay will seek their replacement for Tom Brady following his retirement. And although the team parted ways with former offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, one would have to assume that they’d still prefer a quarterback who can throw the ball down the field.
For all of Fields’ strengths, he’s still extremely lacking as a passer. The 23-year-old threw 17 touchdowns against 11 interceptions, ranking second in the league in interception percentage (3.5 percent) while ranking 25th in passer rating (85.2 passer rating) and 31st in completion percentage (60.4 percent).
There’s little doubt that Fields is probably the best running quarterback in the league, but would the Buccaneers completely revamp their offensive attack to adjust to Fields’ strengths? Especially when one considers that they’d also have to give up assets in order to acquire Fields?
As Edwards mentions, the Buccaneers would likely have to trade a late first-round draft pick and some Day 2 picks in order to acquire Fields.
Tampa Bay may be desperate for a new franchise quarterback, but it seems highly unlikely that the Buccaneers pull off a blockbuster trade for Fields even if he becomes available.
The more likely scenario sees the Buccaneers draft a quarterback in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft rather than trade for Fields.