Ryan Poles explains why Bears made hard decision to trade Justin Fields

Ryan Poles explains why Bears made hard decision to trade Justin Fields originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Bears general manager Ryan Poles knew what the right move for the Bears was but that didn’t make the decision to trade quarterback Justin Fields any easier.

“Justin, probably one of the harder things I had to do,” Poles told reporters Monday at the annual NFL league meeting in Orlando “ I always kind of touch on the empathy part, having that conversation with my own was hard. His jersey’s up in his room. So it kind of puts that into perspective of how difficult those moves are. But I really felt like that was best for our organization and best for Justin. I said that at the combine. I wanted to do right by him. We did that.”

The Bears traded Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick on March 16.

Once Poles had the deal locked up, he and head coach Matt Eberflus called Fields to inform him of the trade.

“We had a really good conversation. Actually went to Flus’ house and we had that conversation together with him over the phone and again one of the harder things we had to do but I thought it was necessary for us to head in the right direction.”

Poles said there were other teams involved in the Fields trade discussions but he ultimately sent him to Pittsburgh because of the opportunity to potentially become the starter for the Steelers.

“There were other teams, Poles said. “The Steelers were just an opportunity where it was almost like more of a … they have a starter with Russ, but there was more of an open competition it felt like from my perspective where there were other opportunities where there were some quarterbacks that were either veteran guys or young guys that had already been paid, so it would have been a tougher situation for him to get on the field.”

Poles said the trade talks around Fields were quieter than he expected due to the small number of teams whose need matched Fields’…

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Author : NBC Sports Chicago

Publish date : 2024-03-25 15:03:02

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