One hour, 23 minutes after the start of the first round of the NFL draft Thursday, the news broke: Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace traded up from No. 20 to select Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields with the No. 11 overall pick.
The trade with the New York Giants cost the Bears their first- and fifth-round picks this year and their first- and fourth-round picks in 2022. But it gave Pace and coach Matt Nagy a quarterback prospect on whom they will stake their futures in Chicago.
Over 22 games in two seasons at Ohio State, the 6-foot-3, 227-pound Fields threw for 5,373 yards with 63 touchdowns and nine interceptions and rushed for 867 yards and 15 touchdowns.
“They’re getting a hard worker, a guy who is going to put himself out there to win every game, a leader on and off the field,” Fields told the ABC broadcast. “So I’m just excited and ready to get to work.”
The move came after three quarterbacks went off the board with the first three picks — Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence to the Jacksonville Jaguars, BYU’s Zach Wilson to the New York Jets and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance to the San Francisco 49ers. But Fields and Alabama quarterback Mac Jones still were on the board after the top 10.
It is the sixth time in the Super Bowl era the Bears have drafted a quarterback in the first round, and the first time since Pace traded up from No. 3 to 2 to take Mitch Trubisky in 2017. The Bears also selected Rex Grossman (No. 22 in 2003), Cade McNown (No. 12 in 1999), Jim Harbaugh (No. 26 in 1987) and Jim McMahon (No. 5 in 1982) in the first round since 1966.
The move comes six weeks after the Bears introduced Andy Dalton as their new starter after signing the 10-year NFL veteran to a one-year contract. But it always made sense for Pace and Nagy to go after a quarterback prospect in the draft to try to develop to start beyond 2021.
Fields is the first quarterback Nagy has drafted as a head coach and is the second for Pace after Trubisky, who signed a free-agent contract to be the Buffalo Bills backup this offseason.
