Fields Should go #2, No Discussion

Every year during the NFL Draft, players inevitably drop down the boards, far more than they should have. So was the case when Tom Brady was selected at pick 199, or when Hall of Famer Deacon Jones was picked in the 14th round in 1961. The draft is an imperfect science that creates more mistakes than successes. However, when certain players begin to fall, it is easy for one to think there is something else behind it. That is the case with former Ohio St. quarterback Justin Fields. At season’s end, after leading the Buckeyes past number two ranked Clemson and the eventual top overall selection Trevor Lawrence, everyone assumed Fields would be the second quarterback selected. However, the narrative has shifted significantly recently to the point where Fields is considered by some to be the fifth-best signal-caller. As Tony Pauline, Pro Football Network’s Chief Draft Analyst for the NFL, puts it, the concerns lie with his decision making:

The main concern is that Justin Fields stares down the primary target. He doesn’t look away from the primary target. He doesn’t process things as quickly as they want him to. During the Senior Bowl, I mentioned how there was one team who has broken down all of Justin Fields’ passes in 2020. They said that just seven times, he looked off the primary target. The other 200+ passes he threw to his primary target. (Pauline)

This claim is outlandish and is something that is an excuse for the NFL’s longstanding prejudice against Black quarterbacks. Fields had some rough games throughout his college career. Do you know who else had bad games? EVERY QUARTERBACK EVER! BYU’s Zach Wilson, the new presumptive second-ranked quarterback, has six more interceptions in four fewer games and 11 fewer touchdown passes and four fewer rushing touchdowns. Wilson plays against far easier opponents too. The game that Fields is routinely called out for is the game against Northwestern, a team with an outstanding defense that was ranked. Wilson threw multiple interceptions against San Diego St. and Hawaii. White quarterbacks with a laundry list of concerns are always given a chance and routinely bust. A single flaw in a Black quarterback is enough to tank their stock completely.

My gripe is not with the evaluation as much as the media’s coverage. To be fair, the drafts is still a few weeks away. Who is to say that Fields is not the second player taken in on April 29? The people to blame are in sports media who will routinely say things like, “Well he is my number two quarterback, but the Jets are in love with Wilson.” If the whole process is just predictions and the Jets have not come out publicly backing a quarterback, than these analysts’ guesses are as good as anyone else. So why not put Fields with the Jets? Teams rarely influence mock drafts because most secrets are kept close to the chest, however, the media has the power to completely shift the status of a player and where he can land on a team’s draft board. If NFL Network and ESPN propagated that Fields was the second-best quarterback, teams would likely agree. So saying “he’s my number two” and not putting him number two is just an admission that they themselves do not believe in the quarterback.

The media, and likely many teams, fear that he will go the same route as Dwayne Haskins, another Black quarterback from Ohio St. who was Fields’s predecessor. Haskins was a bust, talent and character wise, and was cut by the Washington Football Team after a year-and-a-half after being selected 15th overall. This has gotten to the point where people are baselessly questioning Field’s character. This is something that rarely occurs with white quarterbacks, but happens to almost every Black quarterback coming into the leage. The fact that Mac Jones, a one-year wonder out of Alabama who lacks all the ability of a modern-day NFL quarterback (mobility, speed, etc.) and has actual character issues after being arrested for a DUI after a car crash, has not had his character called into question, is absurd. He is now presumedly going to be selected number three overall by the 49ers who traded up to the spot.