The bar the top quarterback prospects must clear for the Chicago Bears to move on from Justin Fields

Bryce Young is on the top of many draft boards and can make a lot of plays.

Young is considered the top prospect among a lot of scouting services. It remains to be seen how many NFL team’s draft boards Young will be at the top. A lot of the scouting process still must be completed before teams finalize their draft board.

Young won the Heisman trophy in 2021. He led Alabama to an SEC title that year and came up short of a national championship.

This season he threw for 3328 yards, 32 touchdowns, and just five interceptions. During his three years in Tuscaloosa, with two of those being the starter, he completed 65.8% of his passes for 8356 yards along with 80 touchdowns to just 12 picks.

In comparison, Fields threw for 2100 yards, 22 touchdowns, and six interceptions during his final season at Ohio State in 2020. To be fair, that season was shortened to just six Big Ten games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was able to play two more games that year because the Buckeyes made the College Football Playoff Championship game.

In three college seasons, one with Georgia and the other two with Ohio State, Fields completed 68.4% of his passes for 5701 yards along with 67 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Young has more passing yards on account of having more passing attempts. Other than that, they both have very similar college numbers. Fields was more accurate and better at protecting the ball.

Although, Young can make all the throws. He is incredibly accurate at throwing the deep ball.

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1609265935650816001?s=20

One of the knocks on Fields coming out was he could throw a good deep ball but it required his receivers to slow down to get a shot at the catch.

Bryce Young is also able to get the ball out of his hand quicker than Fields does. Also, Young can get through his progressions and pick up blitzes better than Fields.

The reason Ryan Poles might want to pass on Young and stick with Fields comes down to two points. One, Young has a lean build. Young is listed as six feet tall and 194 pounds.

Undersized quarterbacks have had success in the NFL. Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, and Kyler Murray have all proved you do not have to be 6’5″ to get results as an NFL quarterback.

The difference is the body types of those three compared to young. Wilson, Brees, and Murray are molded like a power-hitting center fielder with some bulk. Young is built like an NBA point guard.

That is not the physique to survive in the NFL. Even Baker Mayfield has a bulky build to take the punishment.

It is a legit concern to have with Young when it comes to wondering if he can hold up physically in the pros. A defensive end coming off the edge will have no problem grabbing and yanking down Young. Look what is happening to Tua Tagovailoa.

Fields has shown he is not going down as easy.

The other concern is how will Young play when he is not surrounded by great talent. He was throwing to some of the best wide receivers in college and was being protected by a great offensive line.

If Young is on the Chicago Bears next season, he will be throwing to Darnell Mooney and Chase Claypool while being protected by a line that most likely will have never played together.

Young is an outstanding passer, but a lot of his highlights include his wide receivers picking up yards after the catch.

https://twitter.com/AlabamaFTBL/status/1609275372578959360?s=20

Mooney and Claypool are productive wide receivers, but they might not have the ability to make Young look as good as he did when he was throwing to Jameson Williams and John Metchie III.

Fields proved he can make plays with one of the worst receiver groups and keep a team in a game running for his life.

Young probably comes the closest to the bar that needs to be cleared for the Chicago Bears to decide to reset the franchise at quarterback.

Although, Young’s size issue alone is not worth giving up on Fields after two NFL seasons.