Photo by Todd Rosenberg/Getty Images After the primary market for Justin Fields fizzled, we look at where he might end up. It looks like Justin Fields won’t be the primary starting quarterback for a team in 2024. Pause for Fields’ fans to say, “Incorrect, he will be the starting QB for the Bears in 2024!” With that being said, assuming the Chicago Bears do continue forward with their plan to draft a rookie quarterback and trade Justin Fields, it’s time to re-evaluate the trade market. We found 10 ideal backup spots for him and we’ve ranked them from least to most interesting for a variety of reasons, whether that be scheme fit or opportunity. Let’s discuss why we eliminated the other 22 teams. Those teams all have a strong QB2 or one that just recently signed. There’s no reason to think a team will sign a solid backup and trade for Fields. So we can eliminate teams like the New York Jets that just signed Tyrod Taylor or the Cleveland Browns or just signed Jameis Winston. The Jaguars already traded for Mac Jones, they wouldn’t be interested. Every one of the 22 teams not listed here do not have an opening for Fields unless there’s an injury, or they release or trade a QB to open up a space for a new one. So once you work through the teams, there are ten left. Convenient that it’s a nice round number like that, but here we are. 10. Arizona Cardinals The Cardinals' only backup behind Kyler Murray is Clayton Tune. Tune was a fifth-round pick last year and didn’t look good in his limited opportunity. The Cardinals could acquire Fields and bump Tune down to QB3, but a team that is rebuilding doesn’t make a lot of sense to use draft capital on a backup quarterback. UPDATE: The Atlanta Falcons have just traded quarterback Desmond Ridder to Arizona, so does that open the door back for Fields to go home? 9. San Francisco 49ers Teams that are Super Bowl contenders should be more worried about their QB2s than developing teams. The 49ers want to know that if something were to happen to Brock Purdy for a few games that their season wouldn’t derail. They traded away Trey Lance and Sam Darnold is now in Minnesota. The only backup QB left on the roster is Brandon Allen, and there’s certainly room for an upgrade there. 8. Denver Broncos At present, the Broncos probably have the worst QB situation in the NFL. The QBs on their current roster are Jarrett Stidham and Ben DiNucci. There’s no way that this is the plan for Sean Payton in 2024, but presumably the Broncos’ focus will be to land a rookie QB that they can develop and let Stidham play until he’s ready. If the Broncos lose out on a rookie QB, perhaps a post-draft trade could be possible as Payton picks up Fields and tries to use him in a Taysom Hill-type role. 7. Baltimore Ravens The only QB behind Lamar Jackson right now is Malik Cunningham. Bringing in Fields to have a strong backup behind Lamar with similar playing styles makes a lot of sense, especially when you consider that Jackson has missed 11 games over the last three years and will continue to take hits due to his playing style. 6. New Orleans Saints Here’s what the Saints know, they know they don’t have their future QB on the roster. Derek Carr is still here because of the financial commitment they made to him, and he will almost certainly be in New Orleans in 2025 as well, but their only other QB is 2023 fourth-round pick Jake Haener. The idea here would be to trade for Fields and see if you can get him to agree to a cost-controlled contract for two years and potentially try to transition to Fields as your next QB in 2025 when you know Derek Carr is on the way out and see if Fields could be the team’s next QB. 5. Los Angeles Rams The Rams make some sense for Fields. Matthew Stafford is very likely entering the final season of his NFL career, and that means they need someone ready to step in in 2025. Fields could spend the 2024 season learning behind Stafford with Sean McVay, arguably the league’s best offensive mind, and McVay could unleash Fields in 2025 and see if McVay’s genius and Fields’ crazy athleticism is a match for the Rams future offense. 4. Kansas City Chiefs This is another intriguing option for Fields. First of all, you have offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, who was part of the team that drafted Fields in 2021. You have offensive genius Andy Reid who could certainly find some use for Fields in his offense, and you have Patrick Mahomes, a QB who, as a prospect, was said that he can make flashy plays but can’t run an NFL offense, Mahomes obviously proved them wrong and could be a valuable mentor to Fields. 3. Philadelphia Eagles The Eagles are an ideal landing spot for Fields on multiple levels. Their offensive line is strong, although not quite as strong as it’s been the last few years, and you have a similar style quarterback in Jalen Hurts who takes a lot of hits and has an injury risk attached to him. Hurts played all 17 games in 2023 but did miss time in both 2022 and 2021. Having Fields as a security blanket for Hurts while Howie Roseman tries to keep the championship window open in Philadelphia would be a sensible move. 2. Los Angeles Chargers I haven’t heard anyone tie Fields to the Chargers, but this one makes a lot of sense to me. Of course, you have Justin Herbert and nobody is going to be knocking him off the QB1 platform, but Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman are there. We know Roman loves QBs that can move and we know what the two of them did in San Francisco with Colin Kaepernick. Having Fields as Herbert’s backup and as a potential offensive weapon that Roman could utilize would make plenty of sense. Bears fans would be fascinated to see what Harbaugh could do with Fields, as that’s what many of them wanted in Chicago in 2024. 1. Seattle Seahawks This is clearly the best current fit for Justin Fields, as Seattle only has one quarterback currently on the roster, and that’s Geno Smith. Smith is on the second year of his three-year extension in Seattle, but the Seahawks made a big deal publicly that they were allowing Smith’s additional guarantee to kick in as scheduled back in February. That’s not something you say publicly if you are fully committed to your QB. The Seahawks could get out of Smith’s contract after this season without a crippling amount of dead cap. A trade for Justin Fields where Seattle can have him with Geno Smith this year, see what they have in him at quarterback and see if they would want to sign Fields and commit to him as their starter for 2025. New coach Mike MacDonald comes from the Baltimore Ravens and saw the success an offense could have with Lamar Jackson and perhaps MacDonald thinks new offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb could find something in Fields that Chicago wasn’t able to unlock. UPDATE 2: Seattle just traded a third and a fifth-round pick to the Washington Commanders for quarterback Sam Howell, a fourth, and a sixth. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2024/ ... s-chargers
