Justin Fields Trade Market Shrunk By At Least One Team

If the Chicago Bears are going to trade Justin Fields, they’d like to do it before free agency kicks off, with the legal tampering window opening on March 11. General manager Ryan Poles said as much at the 2024 NFL Combine when he expressed his desire not to live in the grey.

Translation? Poles wants a trade partner to step up, make a fair offer, and presumably move on to Caleb Williams.

Here’s the problem: The Justin Fields trade market isn’t what Bears fans thought it would be.

Remember when the offseason began and all we heard were rumors about the Atlanta Falcons preparing to make an offer? Yeah, that’s not going to happen. At least, not if the Kirk Cousins speculation is true.

Cousins is all but shopping for homes in Atlanta right now.

Then there was the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike Tomlin was supposed to be a big fan of Fields, and the dots were easy to connect. The Steelers have questions at quarterback, and Fields seems like, at the very least, the perfect kind of competition they’d want to bring in to challenge incumbent Kenny Pickett.

According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, that won’t happen either.

Check out this nugget from a recent Athletic piece about the Steelers’ QB situation after the NFL Combine:

“Pittsburgh is not among the teams actively working to trade for Fields, league sources told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini,” Mike DeFabo wrote. “Pittsburgh is also not pursuing Kirk Cousins or Baker Mayfield in free agency, according to league sources.”

So the Steelers are basically out of the quarterback market… for now. And it’s that “for now” part that will level up the frustration inside Halas Hall. They need to get a Justin Fields deal done as soon as possible. Otherwise, the Bears run a real risk of exiting draft weekend with Fields and Caleb Williams on the roster. At the same time.

Not great.

Hopefully, the Bears find a trade partner soon. If nothing else, the lacking market for Fields tells you everything you need to know about what the Chicago Bears should do with the first overall pick.