Why Matt Nagy wants to slow play Justin Fields starting
When the Chicago Bears drafted Justin Fields after trading up for him, many assumed that the days of Andy Dalton being the starting quarterback for the team were numbered. While Dalton never had a long-term future with the team, Matt Nagy still thinks that he has multiple starts in his future.
Nagy was with the Kansas City Chiefs when they traded up to number 10 overall to get Patrick Mahomes. He also was on the team that kept Patrick Mahomes on the bench through the entirety of his rookie season. So, when Nagy says that he expects Justin Fields, we may have to believe him.
So many fans are so excited about Justin Fields and they want him to get on the field, but Nagy believes that there is no rush and that a quarterback room featuring two veterans will help him transition and learn a lot of the little things.
In the Chicago Bears post-draft press conference Matt Nagy gave one small example of why he thought Patrick Mahomes sitting for a year was great, and why he thinks it will help Fields as well.
Nagy noted that in the Big 12, Mahomes would get the play call from the sideline, and would take his team to the line, where he would then relay his code words of the play to them at the line of scrimmage. That meant yelling the play as loud as he could in front of the defense.
Defenses pick up on any verbiage in the NFL and you cannot do that. That is why teams huddle in the NFL. Nagy noted that Mahomes was not used to a huddle at all. He had to retrain his voice and his mannerisms for when he was in the huddle so that he did not give too much away.
We talk all day and night about size, strength, and arm talent. But things such as voice in the huddle are such minor details that go a long way. For a QB who is pressed to start, those small things can overwhelm and can start to mess with a QBs head.
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However, with Justin Fields, there will be no pressure as he learns all of the fine details of the NFL. When he is ready, he is ready, but fans have to realize that the NFL is a different game than college football, and just because we cannot see it, there are going to be small things that hold the Bears back from starting him so quickly.