How does Justin Fields compare to the rest of the 2021 draft class?
By Evan Bruner
As the 2022 season comes to a close, it’s time to look back on one of the most hyped-up quarterback classes of all time. The 2021 NFL Draft was believed to have one of the most talented and promising groups of young players in recent memory. The draft was widely seen as the gold standard for both depth and high-end talent by scouts. Mainly at the quarterback position. The class featured five quarterbacks that would go in the first fifteen picks, including the first, second, and third overall selections. Chicago Bears quarterback, Justin Fields is also included.
Trevor Lawrence, who had been the clear front-runner for the first-overall pick since his true freshman season at Clemson, was selected first to the Jacksonville Jaguars. He was then followed by BYU standout Zach Wilson, who went to the New York Jets with the second-overall pick. The San Francisco 49ers traded up to the third spot, where they took Trey Lance out of North Dakota State.
After Ohio State’s Justin Fields slipped out of the top ten, something that would’ve been unthinkable before the 2020 season, the Chicago Bears jumped at the opportunity and traded up to the 11th spot to grab him. The New England Patriots, having lost Tom Brady, took reigning national champion Mac Jones with the 15th spot, rounding out the day-one quarterback selections.
The quarterbacks didn’t stop coming off the board after the first day, though. Florida’s Kyle Trask, Texas A&M’s Kellon Mond, and Stanford’s Davis Mills went off the board on Day 2. This gave the draft a total of eight quarterbacks selected in the first two days — a new record.
By virtue of being a part of the same highly anticipated draft, these quarterbacks, especially the ones taken in the first round, will forever be intertwined. These players’ reputations and legacies will largely be shaped by not only what they do but what their draft class does. With almost two seasons in the books, it is time to revisit the 2021 draft class and see how Justin Fields stacks up against those taken before and after him.