Brad Biggs: Bears got a meager trade return for Justin Fields primarily because his film was 'a problem'

(670 The Score) The Bears settled for a meager return in trading quarterback Justin Fields to the Steelers on Saturday, receiving only a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. That pick will elevate into a fourth-rounder if Fields plays 51% of the Steelers’ offensive snaps in 2024, which is possible but currently unlikely as Pittsburgh appears intent on giving veteran quarterback Russell Wilson the initial starting opportunity under center.

So, why did the Bears get so little in return for a player who has flashed rarely seen playmaking ability? It mostly had to do with Fields’ inability to be a consistent downfield passing threat, and market forces also were a key dynamic, Tribune reporter Brad Biggs told the Mully & Haugh Show on Monday morning.

“There’s a lot of factors in play – the No. 1 factor is the film,” Biggs said. “The other 31 teams have tape of 38 starts by Justin Fields, and it’s not good. He wasn’t in demand. You can look at an exhaustive list of quarterbacks that have had transactions prior to Fields being traded. They were having a difficult time moving him. So the tape is the No. 1 reason.

“The No. 2 reason is you’ve got him for one year and one year only. The Steelers are not going to pick up the fifth-year option in his contract (for around $25 million). No one else was going to pick up the fifth-year option in his contract.

“No. 3, everybody knew the Bears had to trade him, that there wasn’t a scenario where it was really plausible for the Bears to keep Justin and use the No. 1 pick in the draft on a quarterback.”

Biggs also added that Bears general manager Ryan Poles didn’t misplay the market with the timing of the trade or his comment in late February that he wanted to “do right by Justin” as the sides looked to the future. By that point, Poles was already stating the obvious that the rest of the NFL already knew.

“Poles didn’t have to say he wanted to do right by Justin for everybody to know they were going to be trying to (trade him),” Biggs said.

“There’s this false narrative I’ve seen out there that the Bears have gotten a meager return for Justin Fields because they waited until this weekend to try to shop him. That’s not the case either. That couldn’t be further from the case.

“The film, that’s a problem, that’s the stumbling block. Nobody wanted him as the clear starter.

“Could they have done better? Maybe. But we’re going to sit here and have a rock fight over a sixth-round pick or a fifth that could more easily become a fourth or whatever? The league spoke on Justin Fields.”