[REDACTED] is not some source I have cultivated through years of letter writing (yes, that’s how I started doing it) and emails. [REDACTED] is a guy from my neighborhood who just happens to be very high up in an NFL organization. We found ourselves together in our local this weekend and I took the opportunity to ask him some questions. I didn’t record him, but I did take notes. These answers are constructed from those notes.
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DBB: Bears fans on Twitter seem obsessed with proving Justin Fields is good. What does the league think of him after his rookie season?
[REDACTED]: I was talking to [ALSO REDACTED, BUT HE INTERVIEWED FOR BEARS GM JOB] the other day and he might be Fields’ biggest fan. But man, even he can’t get a handle on the 2021 tape. The word he used was “nonsensical”. One of our pro personnel guys recommended we throw out his rookie year and start over with him in September. I think Bears fans would be wise to do the same.
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DBB: You have been part of two organizations at this stage of their process. Twice you’ve come into a franchise and started a “rebuild”. But in both instances, you guys got to select your quarterback. How does having a first-round QB here already change the dynamic for Ryan Poles?
[REDACTED]: It doesn’t. They will evaluate Fields like they would any young player, and that evaluation started the second they walked into the building. Ryan could have taken the Minnesota job, convinced them to move on from Kirk, which wouldn’t have been that hard, and drafted his own quarterback next year in a great quarterback class. He didn’t. He thinks Fields can be his guy. I agree with him. But he has the luxury of being able to move on from Fields too.
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DBB: What is the biggest concern for a team like the Bears in 2022? What will the front office be worrying about?
[REDACTED]: Great question.
DBB: Thank you. You want another Guinness?
[REDACTED]: Yea, one more.
DBB: Brogie, back up [REDACTED]!
Brogie: Ah, back your arse up!
[REDACTED]: The fear is everyone not buying into “the project” and that usually means older guys. Robert Quinn knows he’s not part of the long-term there and that’s why you’re hearing rumblings about him wanting out. Locker rooms can get away from you fast. The best course is just clearing out as many guys as you can when you arrive. You want a roster in that first year where all 53 think they are on the ground floor; that THEY are building something. Poles has done that pretty well. You get a young, hungry team that believes in their coaches and what they’re doing, you’ll end up winning more games than you expect.
