Chicago Bears News: Jalen Hurts extension will impact Justin Fields’ future

Things could escalate quickly for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields, should everything go his way in Year 3.

Looking at the past few years, young quarterbacks have taken a leap in their third or fourth seasons after their respective organizations have gone out of their way to give them everything possible to succeed.

There is no better recent example than Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Monday morning, the biggest NFL news to hit headlines was indeed the extension agreed to by Hurts and the Eagles.

It wasn’t too long ago that Hurts’ reputation was in question. After his second season, the questions began to roll in regarding whether or not Hurts was “the guy” for Philadelphia. Could he be the long-term answer? Was he going to take a step forward as a passer?

Even coming out of Oklahoma by way of Alabama, Hurts wasn’t looked at as one of his draft’s top-tier quarterbacks.

Yet, the Eagles went out and built the troops around Hurts in order for him to take that leap forward, and here we are. Hurts is now the highest-paid player in NFL history, based on annual average salary.

The Chicago Bears and Justin Fields could use the Jalen Hurts extension as a measuring stick if things go correctly

This offseason, Ryan Poles has gone out and started to do a lot of similar things to build around Fields, who happens to be entering his third year. Fields began his offseason by hearing a whole lot of chatter based on the idea Chicago could trade him and draft Bryce Young number 1 overall.

The Bears dealt with the rumors, continued pressing on and ended up trading the pick, proving their belief in Fields. Getting Fields a true number one wide receiver in D.J. Moore was a great first step. Signing a solid starting guard in Nate Davis was another step in the right direction.

Losing David Montgomery, but immediately signing D’Onta Foreman and Travis Homer to help both offensively and special teams continued the process.

Then, it was Illinois native Robert Tonyan to join forces with Cole Kmet as a one-two punch at tight end.

See where the story is going?

All we need to see now is for Poles to go solidify the offensive line in the 2023 NFL Draft, and Fields is set up to have zero excuses for his third year leap.

Should Fields take that next step and enter his fourth year with momentum, after a breakout, he could be looking at a quarterback market that continues to ascend. Hurts’ deal could only be the beginning, as guys like Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert are next in line to get paid.

By the time Fields enters the last year of his contract in 2024 (before his fifth-year option, of course) he could be in line for a deal paying him between $40-$50 million annually, assuming Burrow and Herbert’s deal either match or exceed Hurts.

We haven’t even mentioned the former MVP, Lamar Jackson, who is waiting on his next contract as well.

The cap will only continue to rise, and quarterback deals will only go up from here. It sounds crazy right now, but the Bears could be looking at a $300 million quarterback here pretty soon.