Could Bears Trade No. 1 Overall Instead of Justin Fields?

The Chicago Bears are reportedly in a hurry to get a Justin Fields trade done, with some expecting a trade to happen at some point this week during the NFL Combine. But legendary NBC Sports columnist Peter King suggests that he may not be on the move at all.

In his retirement-announcing column at Football Morning in America on Monday, King suggested that the Bears could hold onto Fields, instead trading down from the No. 1 overall pick for a king’s ransom that could re-stock the entire team.

“I suppose the Bears are going to trade the top pick,” King wrote. “I know nothing, but that seems to be the way the wind is blowing.”

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been one of the teams that have been linked to Fields the most, and at one point, were considered the favorites to acquire the three-year Chicago starter and former first-round draft pick, as recently as two weeks ago.

But since then, the hype between the Steelers and Bears on a Fields deal has cooled, with reporting that the Steelers are not interested in bringing in a starter to replace Kenny Pickett. The Atlanta Falcons are the current favorites to land Fields.

King himself has criticized the Steelers for that approach, calling their faith in Pickett a “colossal misjudgment” a week ago.

The Bears have been reported to be seeking an extremely large trade package in order to move off the No. 1 pick, but if there’s a team that seems ready to meet that price to land USC quarterback Caleb Williams, it’s the Washington Commanders.

Washington just hired Kliff Kingsbury, who was the quarterbacks coach at USC last season, as their offensive coordinator, and the connection makes D.C. an obvious fit to try to trade up from No. 2 to land Williams.

Even if the Bears did that, they would still likely be looking at drafting UNC quarterback Drake Maye to replace Fields with the second overall pick, so they could be in a position to trade down twice.