(670 The Score) In an in-depth interview on the Parkins & Spiegel Show on Wednesday, former Bears director of player personnel Josh Lucas detailed the organization’s mindset in trading up to select quarterback Justin Fields at No. 11 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Lucas explained what the Bears loved about Fields and what concerned them and how those beliefs informed their plan to have patience in developing him – an approach that was then derailed by then-coach Matt Nagy’s decision to insert Fields as the permanent starter in Week 3 of the 2021 season.
Lucas worked for the Bears from 2015-’21, serving as one of then-general manager Ryan Pace’s most trusted lieutenants. As a starting point, Lucas revealed that the Bears’ personnel department ranked the quarterbacks in the 2021 NFL Draft as follows:
1) Trevor Lawrence (No. 1 overall to Jaguars)
2) Justin Fields (No. 11 overall to Bears)
3) Mac Jones (No. 15 overall to Patriots)
4) Zach Wilson (No. 2 overall to Jets)
5) Trey Lance (No. 3 overall to 49ers)
The coaching staff had a slightly different viewpoint, Lucas said. He declined to reveal exactly what the coaches’ rankings were.
Lucas did confirm the Bears’ consensus – between the personnel department and coaching staff – was such that the team didn’t have first-round grades on Wilson or Lance.
“There was not enough buy-in in our building on either of those two guys,” Lucas said.
The Bears graded Fields and Jones on a similar level, with split thoughts on the two prospects as the discussion continued into the final hours leading up to the NFL Draft. Lucas thought Fields would be off the board before the 10-to-15 range because the Panthers and Broncos held the No. 8 and No. 9 picks, he said. The Bears knew that Lawrence would go No. 1 overall to the Jaguars and that Wilson would go No. 2 to the Jets. He was “surprised” the 49ers paid a hefty price to move up to No. 3 to take Lance over Fields.
“I don’t have any room to talk, we took Mitch (Trubisky) over (Patrick) Mahomes,” Lucas quipped in reflecting on the Bears’ big miss in the 2017 NFL Draft.
If the Bears didn’t draft a quarterback in 2021, they would’ve selected offensive lineman Christian Darrisaw in the first round, Lucas said. Instead, Fields did fall far enough for the Bears to trade a future first-round pick to move up.
“Justin coming out (of college), our questions on Justin were the in-game processing, playing a little bit too methodical and making quick decisions when it was in the gray, when it was a little bit off-script, things that you have to be able to do consistently in our league,” Lucas said. “Those were the questions going into the spring (in the lead-up to 2021 NFL Draft). Now you spend a lot of time interviewing the player, you spend a lot of time interviewing the head coach at Ohio State and the supporting staff at Ohio State.”
The Bears were also “big S2 believers,” Lucas said, a test that evaluates a player’s game-speed cognitive abilities. Fields scored quite well on the test.
“That helped us have conviction that (Fields) was going to improve,” Lucas said. “Because when you’re playing at Ohio State and the talent you’re playing with versus defenses, (only) two or three times a year are you playing legit, legit teams – ‘Bama, Clemson, Michigan. But for the most part, you’re playing against guys that aren’t going to be playing on Sundays. You can afford to be methodical. So will it speed up? We felt it would based on everything I just mentioned – and he has a get-out-of-jail free card built in on every play with his legs. We thought that would help carry him to get to his 10,000 hours in the league and become a master at his craft. And guys that have that luxury can buy a lot of time because they can steal first downs, they can create explosive plays with the ball in their hands. That was the vision for the player. We got to work with him for a year (before Pace and his front office were fired in January 2022). I would’ve said even watching tape going into this season, you still see some of that stuff. But it’s improving. As you build it around him – protection-wise and explosive players – I was confident he was going to have a productive year. Could I say he’s going to be a top-five guy, he’s going to win you a Super Bowl? I couldn’t say that based on the first two (years). But I was confident it was going to look better and it was going to be productive this year. So it’s been a surprise to see it as bad as it is right now.”
Veteran Andy Dalton opened the 2021 season as the Bears’ starting quarterback. Fields played a few snaps in the opener before entering in the second game when Dalton suffered an injury. With Dalton ailing, Fields was named the starter for Chicago’s game at Cleveland in Week 3. He landed that role over veteran Nick Foles.
As Lucas tells it, Fields being thrust into the starting role so quickly deviated from the front office’s plan. The Bears would’ve preferred to have Fields watch from the sideline all season and learn the NFL game, Lucas said, noting that even though Fields was a two-year starter at Ohio State, the team felt he had a “limited resume” of game action against great competition.
“Sitting for that long … is huge,” Lucas said in reference to the Bears’ hope of Fields watching and learning for a full season.
Fields’ first NFL start still haunts Lucas, as the Browns sacked Fields nine times in a 26-6 win. Fields was 6-of-20 for 68 yards in that game.
“That type of game can have permanent damage,” Lucas said. “That was hard to watch. He took a lot of free hits that game. When you’re asking a player to be poised and confident in the pocket and to trust your protection – you can’t see downfield and process if you don’t trust your protection – and when that’s your first NFL start and … you want this guy to grow and trust in the protection, it’s hard. I’m not saying it damaged him permanently. It definitely didn’t help.”
Lucas admitted there was frustration in the Bears’ front office over what transpired in Fields’ first start. There weren’t any confrontations with the coaching staff, but it “was hard,” he said.
“That was one of the harder ones,” Lucas said.