should just cut him now with the June 1st designation though, idk why they are waiting i hope its not because woody is biyotching about paying for a cut player
I guess the hope is that they can trade him for literally anything post 6/1. That would provide the most cap savings. Even if they paid a bulk of the deal they’d save more money moving forward. Id rather just move on. He’s like a rain cloud at this point. His presence is unwelcome.
I wouldn't go that far, but i do still believe we (very predictably) got the worst possible version of Fields last year due to teaming that that up with the worst possible OC hire type we could of made. I also believe any idea he "can't play QB at the NFL level" adequate enough to be a solid backup somewhere is probably going to look Jets'y in the near future imo. With too much of that being driven by the same emotionally fueled logic that refused to see Aaron Rodgers as the best QB option for this team moving forward last offseason after the major commitment damage had already been done. What does the Fields contract look like a year from now if Reich decides to just keep him as the 2026 backup in a throw away season? Would we then just owe nothing beyond 2026? That would sound better to me then cutting him just so we can spend more money bringing in another older vet backup who's likely just going to be a lateral option *here*.
I KEEP saying this and haven't gotten any takers to debate, about Fields. Considering the history, does anyone think that kid would convert to an H-Back role? Fields is deadly with a football in his hands and a fresh set of legs under him. My god, if he would set his ego aside, he could have a pretty damn nice career in the league. As a "former" QB it would open up a crap ton of cool options. Just sayin'... Sad thing, Ego. Always gets in the way of positive productivity.
I refuse to touch the Rodgers thing for the sake of the health of everyone else in this thread. Tanner as OC being the issue is easily disproven with the tape. Fields was missing open receivers and flat out not seeing open receivers. There’s a reason he was snagged up immediately by one of the best offensive coaches in the league. He was a rookie playcaller, his game flow assessment wasn’t ideal but that’s what rookie play callers tend to struggle with. The design of the offense and plays themselves were high quality. Engstrand was maybe 20% of the problem. 80% of it was Fields being awful which he’s been for most of his career. And I would definitely bet on Geno being way more than a lateral move here. Might not translate to many more wins but in terms of straight up QB play, I don’t think it’ll even be close. What Fields was doing barely resembled football.
I am glad that they didn't make a move for Murray or make a long term investment in Willis - if the team isn't going to swing for the fences with a mega trade for someone like Burrows then the best thing for the team in the medium term is to get a top 5 pick in the 2027 draft and pray to the NFL Gods that a QB pick finally pans out - the worst thing they could do is end up winning 7-9 games, missing the playoffs and picking in the 7-10 range in the next draft (which means that is almost certainly what happens).
He refused to be part of a package that would have him doing this. I don’t think he’d do it full time.
I did ask that very question yesterday for clarity, butI disagree with the premise the problem was Tanner for Fields complete inability to find any open receivers in a timely fashion. Taylor on one leg was far more successful. The plays to be made were there time and time again.The tape does not lie, nor the eye test. Even in Pittsburgh he displayed the same problem, forcing him to be benched, as in Chicago. However, I’m sure someone will pick him up for his running ability as a BU with a very tailored set of plays, or special run- pass situations. I would even put him in the back field like the way we used Smith years back, but once you force him to throw the ball consistently and play QB it was over, on every place he played. I’ll be shocked if he is a starter ever again. Im sure Moog prefers releasing him and save ten mils, but the Woody factor is the wild card.
I was just looking at the rookie QBs that replaced Tyrod at each of his stops as a starter. Bills 2018 traded him away to draft Josh Allen Browns 2018 replaced by Baker Mayfield Chargers 2020 Justin Herbert Texans 2021 Davis Mills Giants 2023 Tommy Devito Jets 2025 Brady Cook If you just swap Mayfield and Herbert, the steady decline in quality of those players is eerie.
Yet we also have pre-Jets tape too. Which offers a much larger sample size to lean in to. Why does his tape with Tanner look worse and more unplayable? The reason/s Tanner got "snatched up", like Hackett continually does, don't help solve our core problem of not having that somebody (like a Stafanski) you need in place beforehand to make those type of lower responsibility "good guy" hires actually work. Geno is starting and wouldn't be the lateral guy. The lateral guy is going to be whoever else we bring in to replace Fields. Who again and like Rodgers we have already taken the initial expectation L on. One that cutting him isn't going to magically turn back time and erase. At this point why not accept the fact we took the initial L, keep him since we are already basically pot committed, and see what being a 2026 backup QB in a hopefully better offensive setup under Reich looks like?
His pre-Jets tape is why no one wanted him besides a team that was desperate to find a QB and didn’t like any stone unturned. As pointed out above, you’ll see some of the same stuff on that tape. He’s bad. The OC didn’t make him bad. He was worse here than Pittsburgh because we had the worst D in the league that couldn’t get off the field, we never played with a lead so he had to throw which he can’t do and the talent around him was worse. And yea, a first year OC probably didn’t help. But Fields is exactly who he was here. That’s not on the OC.
Exactly Which is why I hated that move from day 1. Which is also why I was adamant that we don’t draft him when he came out. I never saw a good QB in Fields…in college he had success because he could run around forever against college defenses, he had a great OL and he was throwing to NFL receivers in guys like Olave and GW, who were open all the time after he’d run around for like 8 seconds. None of that translates to the NFL. He sucks and he’s never been a real QB. Glad to be past that…can’t wait until we cut him
I don't think so. Why would he be any better than a real H-back in the league? Plus, that position is completely thankless. Shortest average career in the NFL, completely replaceable, virtually nobody gets paid. It's not just ego, somebody will pay him more to be a backup QB somewhere than he can ever earn as a RB. If Fields gets cut and sits home this year, he will earn almost as much money as Breece Hall (10mm vs 14.2mm).
I think you have to move on from Fields. Unless he can speed up his mental game with reading defense in the NFL. He just will be a game manager at best with his arm. Sucks, I didn’t think I was gonna be wrong about him. I’ve also altered my view on, Geno. It’s a win win really. If he sucks like I think he will here, then we still have a good shot at a really good QB next year, if he plays really well, then that’s a really good problem to have. Then the contract being minimum. Not the worst thing. I still hate we traded for him. I hope he plays well though and throws for 4k yards. I highly doubt it but it would be fun to watch.
Pittsburgh reportedly offered him the same contract to stay as their #1 option before moving on to Rodgers last offseason. We also aren't even talking about him being a starter at this point. We are talking about him being a backup QB. A role that a year ago at this time he was widely considered one of the better ones in the league before he bottomed out under Tanner. Who isn't even here anymore after being fired. Again, the major damage of signing Fields with an initial expectation that didn't play out the way we hoped/wanted has already been done. Cutting him at this point with a new OC and while we still need a backup QB for 2026 just isn't really making much sense to me. Especially if keeping him lowers the overall chance we essentially throw a decent pick away in this year's draft to fill that role.
I can’t keep going with the Engstrand thing. That’s gonna be an opinion you’ll find is a unique one the more you look around. But he’s not good enough to be a backup QB. He has no idea how to read the field. The only way you can have success with him is if you make him a runner and Chicago showed you how far you can get with that… the first pick. And the Steelers also showed us when they benched him for Russ despite being 4-0. He’s not a viable option as anything other than a gimmick and he refuses to do that. I’d rather get $10 mil in cap space to get rid of him instead of paying $22 mil to keep him.
I don't think Tanner being an issue was disproven with tape. What the tape showed was a mixed bag. Now, he certainly was less of an issue than defensive coaches, and many other that were fired, but he was not good. Many issues in protection. Awful underutilization of Breece in passing game. Some ridiculous play calls that even commentators pointed out. There were also some good. Like he was able to scheme folks open sometimes. Metchie is a great example, he benefitted. But there was also schemes when the guys are too close together as well. It was a mixed bag. Like I said C+. He ended up as a passing coordinator and that may be where he is best at. I also want to point out that both Detroit and Chicago, which had his mentors as HCs, needed OCs this year, and he did not get the call.
A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidents and things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything
