That hasn’t stopped fans and media members from speculating that the team could hold onto the selection and take a quarterback — such as Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud — to replace Justin Fields.
Stroud addressed that possibility Friday at the NFL Combine and attempted to shatter those rumors.
The third-place finisher in the 2022 Heisman Trophy voting is currently projected to be selected by the Indianapolis Colts with the second pick in next month’s draft (via a trade with the Bears) in ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s most recent mock draft.
Stroud finished his junior season with the Buckeyes by leading the Big Ten in passing yards (3,688) and passing touchdowns (41) among other categories, is the conference’s all-time leader in passing yards per attempt (9.8) and total yards per play (9.1) and earned the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year award for the second consecutive year.
While Stroud oozes with potential, the Bears would be foolish to give up on Fields — who uncoincidentally was Ohio State’s starting signal-caller during Stroud’s freshman year.
The 2021 11th overall pick had a slow start to his second NFL season but picked it up big time in his final seven games from Weeks 9 through 17. In that final stretch, Fields had 10 touchdown passes and five interceptions, with a pair of contests with quarterback ratings of over 100 (and four over 90).
On the ground is where Fields separated himself from the rest of the league, however. He had three games with at least 130 rushing yards, had five of his seven rushing touchdowns during his last seven games of the campaign and set an NFL regular season single-game record for rushing yards by a quarterback (178) in Week 9.
In 15 games, Fields finished the season with 160 carries for 1,143 rushing yards and eight scores, becoming just the third quarterback in league history to run for over 1,000 yards.
