NFL teams inquired about trade for Bears’ Justin Fields during 2024 Senior Bowl, per report

He chicago bears They haven’t necessarily started soliciting offers for the quarterback. Justin Fieldsbut another NFL teams began asking about a possible trade for the former first-round pick in this year’s Senior Bowl, according Sports Illustrated.

Pre-draft events, including the scouting combine, have often served as an unofficial catalyst for trade talks, and “those conversations” with other NFL teams allowed Chicago’s staff to “begin to gauge” Fields’ value this offseason, according to Albert Breer.

The Bears still “very much like” Fields as a quarterback prospect three years after selecting him No. 11 overall, according to Breer, but are “meeting over the next two weeks to finalize plans” at the position. . Many expect the team to use this year’s No. 1 overall pick on a consensus QB prospect like USC’s Caleb Williams, effectively resetting the position (and his contract situation).

If the Bears intend to replace Fields at the top of the draft, it makes sense that they would look to trade their current starter sooner rather than later in order to capitalize on the pre-draft QB market. While trades cannot be finalized until March 13, the official start of the 2024 league year, the terms of a deal can be negotiated and preliminarily agreed to any time between now and then.

Fields has drawn heavy criticism from his Bears teammates after three promising but injury- and turnover-plagued seasons in Chicago. But Williams, North Carolina’s Drake Maye and LSU’s Jayden Daniels are expected to come off the board early in the draft at QB.