After taking things slowly in his rookie year, the Bears finally gave Justin Fields the job in his second year. However, things didn't go exactly to plan for Chicago in the 2022 NFL season.
In fact, the team did so poorly that it ended up having the first overall pick in this year's draft. That situation created some speculation around Soldier Field, as many wondered whether the team would use that pick to draft another signal-caller.
Well, the Bears are leaning towards trading that pick and keep Fields as their starting quarterback. However, general manager Ryan Poles will still evaluate the signal-callers of this year's class.
Bears GM Ryan Poles has faith in Fields but will still evaluate 2023 QB class
"That's the plan, right now," Poles said Tuesday in regard to Fields being the Bears' QB1 in 2023, via NFL.com. "Like I said, we're going to do our homework on this class and if something changes, and again, I will just use this same statement: We will have to be blown away to say, you know, I think this is best for our organization."
"Justin did some really good things -- I'm excited about where his game is going to go," he added. "But at the same time when you sit at our situation at one overall, you have to do your due diligence. You have to investigate everything, you gotta spend time with those guys just to make sure we're making the right decision. What's important to me, and I think everyone knows me by now and how I want to treat our players, we will be in communication with Justin along the way just to make sure that he knows what we're doing and nothing's a surprise to him."
Fields has already expressed he wants the front office to be honest throughout the process, and Poles is doing exactly what he asked. The Bears aren't giving up on Fields yet, but they cannot guarantee him anything either. So, right now, his job is not 100% safe.
