NFL Coach on Justin Fields Trade Rumors: NFL Called the Bears' 'Bluff, and Won'

One NFL assistant coach saw the writing on the wall before the Chicago Bears traded quarterback Justin Fields for what was an arguably meager return.

"You just can't [have both on the roster]," the coach said to ESPN's Courtney Cronin, alluding to Fields and presumptive No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams. "The league called Chicago's bluff, and won."

The coach added the Bears were "not getting anything for [Fields]."

According to Cronin, those comments were made before the Fields trade went through and proved prescient. In dealing away the 25-year-old, Chicago got back a 2025 sixth-round pick, which can potentially become a fourth-rounder, from the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Dan Graziano of ESPN reported on March 10 the market for Fields was almost nonexistent from the perspective of the Bears netting a valuable pick. Colleague Jeremy Fowler reported the team still thought it might gain some leverage if free agency fell in its favor.

Instead, the most likely suitors for Fields steadily fell off the board. Most notably, the Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins and the Minnesota Vikings added Sam Darnold in the wake of Cousins' departure. The Las Vegas Raiders also decided giving Gardner Minshew $15 million guaranteed was a better investment than a Fields trade.

The assistant coach hit on why the Bears were always swimming upstream in negotiations.

General manager Ryan Poles could only maintain the pretext of not knowing what he'll do with the No. 1 pick for so long. And assuming Williams or another QB is the ultimate choice, everybody would know Fields is out the door the moment that player arrives.

The Arizona Cardinals faced a similar dilemma in 2019, when they were one year removed from having used a top-10 pick on Josh Rosen while also having just taken Kyler Murray first overall. Arizona at least managed to get second- and fifth-rounders in a trade with the Miami Dolphins, but that still represented a significant loss from its initial investment.

With Rosen, the Cardinals benefited from Rosen having a lot of theoretical upside in addition to multiple years of cost control on a rookie contract. Neither of those things was true of Fields, whose $25.7 million option in 2025 will have scared off some suitors.

Poles deserves some credit for recognizing the futility of his situation and accepting what was on the table, in the process setting Fields up with a team where he has a possible path to the starting job.