With the trade of Justin Fields for a 2025 sixth-round pick, the Steelers acquired quarterback in exchange for a good grade.

With the trade of Justin Fields for a 2025 sixth-round pick, the Steelers acquired quarterback in exchange for a good grade.

We spoke with Justin today to explain the move and our club's reasoning for it. We wish him the best for a lengthy and prosperous NFL career and want to thank him for his unwavering commitment, leadership, and everything he has given to our team and community over the previous three years."

Fields was chosen with the eleventh overall choice by the Bears in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Fields has participated in 40 games throughout his three seasons, starting 38 of them. In three seasons, he has completed 578 of 958 pass attempts for 6,674 yards, an average of seven yards per pass, and 40 touchdown passes.

In addition, Fields has run for 2,220 yards and 14 touchdowns on 356 carries.

The Pittsburgh Steelers have defrauded the Chicago Bears in a transaction once more. Less than two years after Pittsburgh sold Chase Claypool to Chicago in exchange for a pick that the Steelers ultimately used to draft cornerback Joey Porter Jr., the team acquired quarterback and former first-round pick Justin Fields from the Bears on Saturday for a 2025 sixth-round pick.

The Bears are letting go of Fields after three seasons and will almost certainly select former USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the first overall pick in the April draft. Fields is expected to support Russell Wilson for the Steelers. Wilson is looking to turn around his career after two difficult seasons in Denver. Shortly after acquiring Wilson, Pittsburgh traded previous starting quarterback Kenny Pickett to Philadelphia.

The trade that concluded an exciting first week of NFL free agency is graded below.

Bears

According to ESPN, six teams made inquiries about Fields, but most of them saw him as a backup. The Bears had to change course when they weren't receiving the offers they had hoped for, but they were expecting for something akin to what the Jets got when they dealt Sam Darnold to the Panthers in 2021 (a sixth-round pick in 2021, as well as second and fourth-round picks in 2022).

In the Pickett deal, the Eagles received Pickett and a 2024 fourth-round pick (No. 120) in exchange for two 2025 seventh-round picks and a 2024 third-round pick (No. 98 overall) for Pittsburgh. It is mind-boggling that the Steelers received a significantly higher return for Pickett than the Bears did for Fields.

Note that if Fields plays 51% of Pittsburgh's offensive plays this season, the pick the Bears obtained in this deal will advance to a fourth-round pick, per ESPN. However, since Wilson is firmly established as the starter, that would require either Wilson to have an injury or Fields to take his place for a performance-related reason.

Steelers

This season, the Steelers will pay Fields and Wilson less than $4.5 million combined. Even for one quarterback, that's a huge problem; imagine it for two. After adding Wilson, linebacker Patrick Queen, and safety DeShon Elliott to their roster, the Steelers will now have the capacity to add more players.

A week prior, Pickett was still the starting quarterback for the Steelers while the team searched for a rival. With Fields supporting Wilson as the starting and Wilson firmly established as the starter, there won't be any competition in Pittsburgh anymore. But Fields doesn't seem to mind going into this position. According to Sports Illustrated, he has expressed his excitement for his fresh beginning to others since being traded.

Pittsburgh took a low-risk step by doing this. They didn't have to give up much to get a quarterback with unrealized potential. Despite not having a favorable start in Chicago, Fields persevered and finished 2022 with the second-highest passing total for a quarterback in NFL history.