INDIANAPOLIS — Justin Fields doesn’t want to live in limbo — and he might not have to for much longer.
Bears general manager Ryan Poles, who said in January he was willing to take his quarterback decision “all the way to April,” struck a different chord Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. Asked when he wanted to know the Bears’ direction — to keep Fields or draft a quarterback, likely USC’s Caleb Williams, first overall — Poles offered a quick reply.
“Tomorrow,” he said.
He wasn’t kidding. He’d love to know as soon as possible, even as he acknowledged that was unrealistic. Within two weeks, however, is a far more reasonable target.
“Before free agency would be good,” he said.
The reason: if the Bears choose to draft a quarterback, teams will pay them a premium to agree to a Fields deal before the start of the league season March 13. The move would benefit Fields, too — there are only so many starting jobs in the NFL, and those will start to dry up next month.
“If we were to do something with Justin, I want to do right by him,” Poles said. “And I know, again, living in that gray space, we would want to do something sooner rather than later.”
Fields said on a podcast last week that he wants to know his future as soon as possible. Poles, who reached out to his representation afterward, can sympathize.
“No one wants to live in gray — I know that’s uncomfortable,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to be in that situation either.”
Instead, Poles is in the most enviable spot of any general manager at the combine — holding the No. 1 overall pick with a generational prospect available, as well as the No. 9 pick.
Poles wasn’t afraid to talk about Fields’ future were he to draft Williams. In that sense, his tone was already strikingly different than last year, when he walked into Indianapolis with the first pick and traded it less than two weeks later.
Bears coach Matt Eberflus sounded different this time around, too. In 2023, he detailed how the Bears were excited about Fields’ progress. Tuesday, he said that if “Justin’s coming back in there, we’ll have a plan in place for that” and “if we have a new quarterback, we’ll have a plan in place for that.”
Poles will have no shortage of GMs approach him about what it would take to trade up in the draft — or for Fields.
Poles pointed out in a Sun-Times interview that he’d traded previous Bears standout to good situations: Roquan Smith to the Ravens, who played for the AFC title this season, and Robert Quinn to the Eagles, who played in the Super Bowl after the 2022 season. Doing right by Fields, though, would also have to be right for the Bears, he said.
Fields’ hometown team could be the latter, particularly if the quarterback-needy Falcons are willing to part with a second-round pick or one of their two third-rounders.
“We won’t close any doors,” Falcons GM Terry Fontenot said. “It could be a veteran, it could be a young player . . . possible trades.”
Fields’ current teammates would grumble if he’s dealt. Receiver DJ Moore reiterated his preference for Fields, telling the NFL Network on Tuesday that he still didn’t think college quarterbacks “compare to Justin right now.”
Poles appreciates that Bears players are sticking up for Fields. But they don’t get to make the decision. Poles does — it’s why he’s the most popular person in Indianapolis this week.
“It’s my job to think of the long term,” Poles said. “And a lot of our guys kinda don’t see that. It’s not their job to do that. And they defend their guy, which I think speaks volumes about our culture in that locker room.”
