Chargers News: Justin Fields Reportedly Close To Being Traded To AFC West Rival
As the heart of the offseason is underway, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields, who has been subject to countless trade rumors for over a year, appears on the verge of being moved to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Should this happen, it would mean the Los Angeles Chargers would face Fields twice a year. The Bolts have had issues with deep passing this past season, and Fields is the type of QB that can air the ball out.
After last season, when Chicago held the first overall pick in the 2023 draft, there was plenty of buzz around Fields being moved in favor of drafting either Bryce Young or CJ Stroud.
Instead of moving Fields, Chicago chose to make one of the most lopsided trades in recent memory, dealing the first overall pick to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for DJ Moore, their 2024 first-round pick, and quite a bit more.
Carolina's disastrous 2023 season has left them with the no. 1 overall pick, that, due to the previous trade, now belongs to Chicago.
Given how terrific this quarterback class is, however, and with Fields only showing a sliver of improvement, Chicago's attitude appears changed, and instead of trading the first overall pick again, they're going to move Fields, presumably taking either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye with the first overall pick.
These trade rumors don't offer much detail – we don't know what Fields is being dealt for exactly, but this seems a bit unlikely given three things: first, Vegas signed former Indianapolis QB Gardner Minshew II. Second, they possess a top-15 pick in the draft, which they will presumably select a quarterback with. Lastly, former Bears OC Luke Getsy is now the OC of the Raiders, and reports weren't entirely positive between the two of them.
With that being said, Fields would make sense if Vegas doesn't want to take a QB early.
This is just speculation currently, but Vic Tafur of The Athletic stated a rumor that the Raiders were "kicking the tires" on Fields potentially being signed. Fields has yet to be moved though, so we will have to all wait to see if this has merit.
The Chargers had better start looking into addressing their secondary depth to attempt to stop deep passers from having too much success against them again. The Raiders are their biggest divisional rivals, and adding a quality QB like Fields would make them a far scarier team to face.
