The argument against Chicago Bears drafting QB for the rookie salary benefit
The debate between trading Justin Fields and keeping Justin Fields has been exhaustive. One argument that you have heard plenty of times by now is that adding a rookie quarterback and trading Justin Fields would give the team two more years of a quarterback on a rookie salary.
How could the Chicago Bears turn down the extra two seasons? One thing that they are not factoring is that while Justin Fields has two fewer years on a cheaper deal, he has one more year in the offensive system with Luke Getsy
Chicago Bears should not trade Justin Fields
We saw this firsthand with Justin Fields. In both years he had to learn a new offense. In both years, as the year went on, he got better. What was the reason? Because he got comfortable in a new offense.
Luke Getsy will be the offensive coordinator next season. While it took Fields time to adjust to him, it also took Getsy some time to learn the playing style of Justin Fields. You can see a dramatic change from week seven on as the two got comfortable with each other.
So, they can reset the clock on the rookie sslary, but that means that they are going to reset the connection between coordinator and coach. It is going to take a few weeks for any rookie to get used to this offense. By the time that they are on the same level of Justin Fields in understanding, the contract length will be about the same as when they had Fields, and they still will be hoping the quarterback that they draft takes the next step.
Or, they can keep Justin Fields. They lose two years of a cheap quarterback, but they get back a year of not acclimating. Justin Fields will come into the 2023 offense with so much more information and understanding that no quarterback the team drafts can compete with that.
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So, while it is enticing to get the extra years, there is a drawback to that argument as well. The familiarity and comfort in the offense has to be factored, and whether you would take a quarternack entering year two in the same offense over rebuilding the offense around a new name has to be considered.