The expected fifth year option price for Bears quarterback Justin Fields has been revealed
The Chicago Bears are getting closer and closer to the potential deadline to make a decision on quarterback Justin Fields. The 2024 free agency cycle and the 2024 NFL Draft are quickly approaching and many teams, including the Bears, are still trying to figure out who will be behind center during the 2024 season and […]
The Chicago Bears are getting closer and closer to the potential deadline to make a decision on quarterback Justin Fields.
The 2024 free agency cycle and the 2024 NFL Draft are quickly approaching and many teams, including the Bears, are still trying to figure out who will be behind center during the 2024 season and beyond.
The Bears are in current possession of the first overall pick in the draft and could choose to potentially draft USC's Caleb Williams as their next quarterback while shipping Fields off to a new team. Or, the Bears could keep Fields as the team's starter once again. Whatever the case may be, it's important to know how much a team is expected to have to pay him.
One of the main arguments in favor of the Bears drafting a rookie quarterback and trading away Fields is the idea that Chicago can reset the quarterback window in terms of not having to sign a long-term quarterback contract. Fields is entering into the fourth and final year of his rookie contract but as a former first round pick, he's deal will also includes a fifth-year option that can be picked up for the 2025 season.
Fields fifth-year option is expected to come in at $21.9 million in 2025. The deadline for teams to exercise fifth-year option for players selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft is on May 2. That still gives the Bears, or another potential team looking to acquire Fields, plenty of time to determine what to do regarding his long-term flexibility on the team's cap space.
As for the quarterback window argument favoring a rookie contract, Fields is expected to account for just over $6 million on the team's cap in 2024. A $21.9 million fifth-year option would be a significant pay raise but still wouldn’t be overly detrimental to the Bears cap in relation to other quarterback contracts, which then gives Fields two more seasons to prove he can be the long-term starter. However, the same can be said for any team who plans to possibly trade for him this offseason.
Fields' $21.9 million number is decided due to his snap counts during the first three seasons of his career meeting the following criteria: 75 percent or greater in two of first three seasons, an average of 75 percent or greater over all three seasons, or 50 percent or greater over all three seasons. Since Fields already hit this criteria, his fifth-year base salary is then calculated based on the average of the third-25th highest salaries at the quarterback position from the last five seasons.
For comparison, after being selected with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young signed a four-year, fully guaranteed $37.96 million contract that had an $8.6 million cap hit in 2024. That number will raise to over $12 million by 2026 but is still nothing compared to the expected fifth-year option Fields could have exercised for the 2025 season.
Therefore, the short and long term roster building flexibility cap-wise heavily favors drafting a rookie quarterback with the first overall pick and that doesn't even factor in Fields' potential long-term extension if he can prove to be a team's franchise quarterback.
With the Bears possibly in a position to fetch upwards of a first-round pick by trading away Fields, it simply makes too much sense to move on and draft the top prospect at the position with the first overall pick. However, that decision could rub some of the players in the locker room the wrong way who are holding out for Fields to return as the starter in 2024 with a new offensive system in place.
The decision is a monumental one to make if you're Bears general manager Ryan Poles and we will see what the decision will end up being in the coming weeks.
