Simms basically says it's hard to pick between Burrow, Williams and Luck as prospects. I think he'd give the edge to luck.

I'm not sure expecting him to be perfect is reasonable. Wilson's problem is his attitude.

That substance on the side of my leg is water.

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

If we can only get a 4th rounder for Fields, I'd rather keep him and try to trade him during the season

If we can only get a 4th rounder for Fields, I'd rather keep him and try to trade him during the season

I think it's very straightforward: there are better options, including rookies, than Fields. Teams will pursue those options first before looking into Fields.

Would you take a conditional 4th that becomes a 2nd with playing time?

I'd rather release him during the season than take a 4th round pick. Let whatever team loses the musical chairs of Cousins-Wilson tank a season with Desmond Ridder or Blaine Gabbert over one round if they want.

The Bears have all the leverage with the idea they can simply not trade Fields. Plenty of other QBs have been dealt far worse than getting paid to not play.

You bring your rookie quarterback into a toxic locker room and you eliminate the 5th year option for any team. That would be professional malpractice.

Plenty of rookie quarterbacks have a one year rental still on the team. They would just announce Williams as the starter right at the start of camp if it was a big deal.

But teams are going to panic when they have to sell the idea that Desmond Ridder or Blaine Gabbert are the day one starter when it's between a 3rd and 4th round pick. I would guess that even the threat of letting Fields be released would be enough.

This would be different than all of those situations. Fields is a fan and locker room favorite. This isn't like some 2nd or 3rd round quarterback that would be asked to compete with Fields. You would be forcing the first pick in the draft to enter a toxic environment that is sure to have a negative impact on him and possibly divide a locker room.

Fields is sunk cost. If the absolute worst scenario comes to fruition, you take what the market is offering. If that's a 7th round pick, so be it. I don't suspect that will be the case. There is no reason to panic.

Timing and Anticipation
My biggest concern with Williams’ game is that I didn’t see a ton of anticipation throws in college. There wasn’t always urgency in his desire and ability to get rid of the ball quickly. I wanted to see more plays where he planted his foot in the ground at the top of his drop and got the ball out in rhythm.

Was this tendency the result of Williams not forcing the issue unless a receiver was wide open since he knows he has a tremendous ability to make plays late in the down?

Or was it an inability to process and make decisions quickly?

Whatever the answer is, he won’t get away with the same style of play quite as often against NFL defenses.

Take a play like this for example. To the right, USC had a curl-dig-flat combination called:


Williams looked at the curl first but didn’t like it because the underneath defender jumped it. That left the dig wide open:


Williams should have been ready to throw the dig right off of his receiver’s break as this was a pretty clean read. But you can see below that Williams still hadn’t started his throwing motion after his receiver was out of his break and already staring back at him:

Would you take a conditional 4th that becomes a 2nd with playing time?

Laurence Holmes is a fucking weirdo, a nerd in denial, and a wannabe. Not a very good radio host either.

While one scout noted his 33 fumbles in 31 college starts, Williams’ physical ability isn’t what raises concerns. The consensus from league sources is there’s no questioning his talent.

Issues raised about Williams’ style of play quickly turned into praise. For example, one executive expressed concerns about Williams’ processing at the NFL level but then highlighted his rare ability to change his arm angles and also his quick release.

“The ceiling is too high,” another scout on an opposing team said.

He went on to lay out the best scenario for Williams, which would be a veteran locker room in which Williams wouldn’t have to necessarily come in and be in charge. The Bears hope they have that with receiver DJ Moore, tight end Cole Kmet and their leaders on defense.

Two additional sources familiar with Williams said there’s another thing that isn’t a debate — the quarterback’s love for football. Williams’ USC teammates have praised him at every stop since their season has ended.

Justin Fields and the Bears
Throughout the week of the combine, multiple league sources suggested that the trade market for Fields wasn’t as strong as you’d think or as the Bears had hoped.

All it takes is one team to change that. But Poles’ messaging early in the week was interpreted as a strong sign around the league that he wanted to trade Fields sooner rather than later.

“Justin’s going to be gone,” a scout said. “That writing is on the wall.”

“It’s just time to move on,” an executive said.

But those evaluators and others still had questions about Fields. His ability to process and slower release were mentioned several times, including by a quarterbacks coach.