It was a little shocking when former Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields fell to the Chicago Bears at No. 11 in the 2021 NFL Draft as the team traded up to land him. Not that Bears fans would complain but going into draft night, there were a few teams ahead of them that needed a quarterback.
Among those teams was the Denver Broncos and our old friend Vic Fangio. Denver acquired Teddy Bridgewater to compete with Drew Lock but neither appear to be the future at the quarterback position. So when Denver took Patrick Surtain, a good corner, at No. 9 it puzzled some and left the door open for the Bears to make a move.
LISTEN: Keepin’ it 100 a Chicago Bears podcast!
But why did Denver pass up on Fields?
Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson addressed the situation on his podcast You Pod to Win The Game, revealing just why Fields fell and it wasn’t the talent:
“It wasn’t the talent, we really liked the talent a lot. It was the medical. Look, the epilepsy…the concern about it was…the amount of risk that is there the day you draft him, versus what’s there 10 years down the line is the same. It never dissipates.”
The report of Fields dealing with epilepsy came out before the draft but the quarterback has maintained that it will not impact him on the field at all in his career, nor has it at Ohio State.
Still, that wasn’t enough for the Broncos and they wanted to be sure on the risk. Bears fans might be spending the next 10 years happy that the Broncos passed on the dual-threat quarterback as they hope to have found their decades-long solution at the position.
Make sure to check out our Chicago Bears forum for the latest on the Monsters of the Midway.
For More Great Chicago Sports Content
Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE
