Justin Fields was not just popular among the Chicago Bears fanbase but he was one of the most popular quarterbacks within the team's locker room to ever play the position.
It was no surprise to see Bears players take to Twitter on Saturday as news of the Fields' trade broke.
One of the players to not take to social media was Cole Kmet. Kmet was the starting tight end for Fields' entire run as the starting quarterback of the Bears and shared his thoughts on the move while appearing on Monday's episode of the CHGO Bears Podcast.
"We're gonna be accepting of whoever comes in. Doesn't mean we still won't treat him like a rookie!"
— CHGO Bears (@CHGO_Bears) March 19, 2024
Cole Kmet talks about the locker room embracing the newcomers: ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/kMjJmhavwv
Chicago Bears tight end Cole Kmet understands the nature of the NFL and the quarterback position.
The biggest question that the Bears were faced with this off-season, outside of the actual quarterback decision, was how the team would react if the decision was made to move on from Fields.
The reaction has been as expected. While former Bears players are ripping the decision by the team to move on from Fields, players within the locker room understand that this is a business.
While there certainly is a business element to the decision, the Bears will now be resetting the quarterback contract clock, this decision was mostly made because of the shortcomings that Fields had in his development as the team's starting quarterback.
The Bears believe that the next quarterback of the team, likely Caleb Williams, will be the better option to put the team in a position to have a streamline of success for the next decade and a repeat of a broken cycle every three years.
That's not to say that Williams will immediately be as popular in the locker room as Fields was. It will take time for Williams to earn that respect but is something that the Bears' locker room won't prevent him from doing so.