Justin Fields Not Quite an A-Lister
Throughout the draft, Chris Simms never was a fan of Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields.
At least he's consistent.
Simms, who had predicted in his mock draft that Fields would fall to 32nd and be selected by Tampa Bay, has hit the Bears with yet another gut punch by rating their rookie quarterback the 39th best at his position in the league.
Simms annually releases his quarterback rankings in increments at this time of the year and put out Nos. 36-40 on Monday. The Bears were accustomed to receiving a poor rating for Mitchell Trubisky, and also last year with Nick Foles.
But Simms seems to have shot down all the hysteria in Chicago about a top quarterback coming to the Bears in the draft with his ranking. Not so with Simm, though.
Those not familiar with Simms should know he is the son of former Giants quarterback Phil Simms, and played a little in the NFL. He was in 23 career games and had a 69.1 passer rating.
If Fields had simply been No. 39, it's one thing. But Simms had Fields ranked one behind San Francisco's Trey Lance, who never threw a pass against major Division I competition and played only one season of lesser college football at North Dakota State. He also had Fields ranked two below Kellen Mond, the Minnesota Vikings' second-round pick from Texas A&M.
Of Fields, Simms said: "He could be Top p 20 midseason. But he could also fall out of the top 40."
Simms also admonished Bruce Arians for choosing Florida's Kyle Trask over Mond, and said of Mond, "He's one of the most NFL-ready rookies."
Fields is ranked one place ahead of Case Keenum, who was 40th. All of them are ranked below Marcus Mariota, the Raiders backup who is 36th.
Logic seems to be lacking when Simms has Fields rated below Mond even though he had Fields going in the draft well ahead of Mond.
Simms had also came out with the prediction that Alabama's Mac Jones would be the third quarterback selected and would be taken by the San Francisco 49ers instead of Lance.
Last year's Simms rankings had Cam Newton 10th overall and Newton finished with more interceptions than touchdown passes. He had Drew Brees ranked 16th and Brees had the fifth-best passer rating of his career.
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