Before I even start, let me get this out there first. Trading up for Justin Fields was a no-brainer by the Chicago Bears. His combination of size, athleticism, arm strength, and deep field accuracy combined into a player who has won big games is enough to take the shot. He is in a good environment to thrive, and if he works on a few areas of his game, the ceiling is sky-high.
With that said, this article is going to look into some of the areas where Fields must improve If he does want to hit that potential. It seems like everything in this world has to be so black and white that we cannot talk about where players can improve.
Yes, it may have been a mistake for so many teams to pass on Justin Fields. Yes, 10 teams, including three drafting quarterbacks, and at least three with questionable QB rooms passed on Justin Fields. While some people will tell you it is because all Ohio State QBs fail, that sounds insane, and any off-of-the-field questions are so tough to decipher without actual indications of what those may be. So, instead of believing in rumors or false narratives, and without assuming these GMs are complete morons, what could have made Justin Fields slide to pick 11?
5. Recognizing Delayed Blitzes
This one may actually be number one, but I wanted to get straight to It. This could be a legitimate concern with a lot of proof on video.
At first glance of Fields, you see a player who maneuvers the pocket well, and he typically does so long as what he thought was coming pressure-wise what came. The biggest issue he has is with delayed blitzes or layered blitzes.
He typically is aware of the first rush, but the second wave can catch him. Check out the play below against Alabama. The Tide twist upfront and the linebacker takes a second until Fields starts to progress his reads to blitz. Once Fields enters his read, he is not reading the blitz. As he sets to throw, the delayed blitz causes him to speed his process, and throw a bad pass.
Again, watch the slot, on 3rd down below. He gets the attention as a Blitzer, and times his blitz with the left inside linebacker. But, now look at the right inside linebacker. He sneaks around the OLs right side, and Fields takes a sack as he does not notice this pressure coming.
Again, in the play below the first player that rushes is Micah Parsons, the right inside linebacker. However, it is the safety that gets home when Fields is not accounting for him at all. Fields take a legitimate shot on this play, you can tell he had no idea it was coming.
There is more, and it is not just against Clemson, Penn State, and Ohio State. Here we see issues against Indiana. Two linebackers cross as they blitz which for the most part gets picked up. Fields is accounting for them, but he is not accounting for the blitzing safety who is coming in hot behind them. That safety gives Fields a shot, and eventually the play results in a sack.
Below is later in the game and almost the same exact blitz. The linebacker cross, the blitz gets picked up, but once again the safety seemed to be out of sight and out of mind for Justin Fields. The concern is not the blitz as much as the lack of feel and understanding of the environment surrounding him.
To be fair to Fields, they sent the house on this third-down pass. However, he has to know this is coming and have a hot read ready to go to. The fact that his first instinct is to turn his back and retreat is a bit worrisome as well. That often leads to making things worse, and it did in the play below.
However, as noted, this is a writer who thinks Fields has a lot of special talent, and while almost no QB can get away with turning his back to the defense like that, Russell Wilson, who was my comparison for Fields before the draft has a similar style where he improvises like that. He also still struggles reading the blitz in a similar manner but has found a way to get by.
The play below may look like what I am talking about when I compare him to Wilson. He is late to react to the blitzing corner off of the edge. Then, he spins towards the defensive lineman, but the play result is special. He has the speed to get away, he has the ability to flip his hips and throw an impressive pass rolling to his weak side.
Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good, but there is going to be a lot to take away from how Fields reads the blitz, and how he reacts to the blitz. There are other questions to his game as well.
4. Feel vs pressure
This is essentially the same process issue, but if you think that teams need to send seven men to beat Fields, there are other alleys. The biggest is stunting and twisting. As noted, the biggest issue is that when what he expects is not what he sees he gets flustered.
Check out this play against Nebraska. The left guard gets beat clean, but notice the movement. One man showing blitz on the right drops, and a man stunts from over the left tackle to over the right side. Fields is reacting to this when he sees his man beat. His movement is almost more robotic than based on feel.
Again, they do blitz here, but the issue that gets home is the stunt. This can also be an issue for the offensive line, but once again you can see that he is not anticipating pressure. He had room to his right, but his eyes were downfield and he was not feeling the pressure to his left.
Once again, they bring five, but the stunt throws Fields off. He has a man in the short flat but he hesitates with the pressure coming in. This leads to a sack that could have been avoided. According to PFF, 25% of the time he faced pressure, it resulted in a sack. That is the worst in the draft class. It is a different sport altogether, but Trubisky had a 21% pressure to sack rate last year, which was pretty high as well..
This one is not even a stunt, but once again the left guard loses and Fields struggles to feel the pressure. His line is not helping on most of these occasions. Still, Fields needs to be able to avoid converting so many pressure spots into sacks.
There are plenty of occasions where you can see him work through muddy pockets and step up in the pocket when needed. These are not primary examples, and you can see in his footwork that he can improve in this area, but these are probably conversations teams are having about Fields.
3. Staring down receivers
You can see that at times in reasons for why pressure led to sacks so often. A lot of people made fun of the concerns, but the thought that Justin Fields cannot make full-field reads is insane. He does it all the time. This is again about black and white compared to the grey in between because while he does make full-field reads, and he can get off of reads quickly, he does have issues with staring down receivers at times as well. This is all possible.
The pass below results in an interception where he is read like a book. The Denver Broncos, who passed on Fields drafted this safety later on. I am guessing Vic Fangio saw this play a few times.
This play was from last year in the national semifinal. He is fortunate it did not lead to an interception. He stared this one down from the second the ball was snapped, and he had him if he got the ball out a bit quicker. Some questions have been brought up on Fields release, but I have not seen enough to knock it. However, quick game is not where he wins, and that may be tied to his release.
The thing with this play was that his team was down, it was third down and eight he was pressing in a big moment. It is fair to say that Fields is a player who goes for the win, but at times it can cost him the game as well. In the next slide, we will expand on that.
2. Justin Fields plays Hero ball
As noted, Fields can press, especially when he feels like he needs to make a play. This is honestly when he is at his worst, though. When he is calm, and poised, and playing in rhythm he is fine, but when he presses, it goes haywire.
The play below is a dash of half-brilliance, half-disaster. You are in awe of the feet, the movement, the ability to keep balance, keep eyes downfield, keep the play alive. Then, the end. Ugh, throwing a duck in the air up for grabs at the last second is not what you want. At some point, the play needs to die. In this specific situation, his team was losing in the Big 10 Championship and he was pressing to make a play.
Again, Fields needs to protect the ball, and this time he pays for it below. What is he thinking? It is third down and he wanted to make a play. Again, he dashes up with speed, he has the strength to keep the play alive, it is impressive he threw it that far. It is still a bad decision and one that he needs to avoid and live for another down in the NFL.
I am not going to clip it, because it resulted in an injury, but in the semifinal, when Fields came back from a rib injury, the rib injury was avoidable. He could have slide and lost a yard on a scramble where he was picking up big yards. However, he was in playmaker mode and wanted to get physical with a linebacker when he took a vicious blow. Fields need to protect himself more and typically does, but when he feels he needs to make a play, he stops thinking.
1. Snaps under center
One of the reasons the San Fransisco 49ers may have liked Trey Lance over Justin Fields is that even though Fields has much more experience, Lance has actually has run more under center, play-action than Fields. That is what San Fran loves to run, so it does make sense.
It also makes sense that Matt Nagy was all about Justin Fields. He is one of the more shotgun-heavy coaches in the NFL. In fact, he had to dial it back to help Mitch Trubisky. Nagy is going to go shotgun heavy and loves that Fields is comfortable in that area.
However, Fields is going to have to grow at taking snaps under center. He took 93% of his snaps from the gun. Of that 7%, good portions were QB sneaks and kneel-downs. It was not boot-game and turning his back to the defense. Nagy is shotgun heavy but skewed in the 75-80% range. There is going to be a transition to taking snaps.
Matt Nagy even noted that commanding the huddle, is a lot different, and the line cadences, the play clock, there is a lot for Fields to grow into and learn.
Nobody is calling Fields a bust, and nobody is saying that Jared Goff, Sam Darnold, and Drew Lock deserved to have their teams pass on Fields. His upside is the best quarterback in franchise history, but there are reasons why he will not start week one, and expectations can be tempered.