Battersbox
Footballguy
Yes. He definitely had better talent at Ohio State. More importantly though, the talent differential was greater...his WRs in the NFL will never be as consistently open as they were at Ohio State, even if he gets top tier talent. I'm curious if we've ever seen a guy in the NFL make a leap from year 1&2 to year 3&4 in this specific aspect of QB play (reading the defense and throwing guys open).I saw Fields play a lot for Ohio State. If he has time to throw and has receivers that get separation, he is more than capable as a passer. I agree at the pro level his reads aren't great, but when you are always behind and feel like he have to make plays, you end up holding the ball too long and taking sacks (vs. throwing the ball away). I think with better coaching and more experience, he can do much better with that. I also think with more blocking and some weapons that can get open, he wouldn't be forced to hold the ball and would be more decisive.I watched 95% of the snaps Fields took over the past 2 years. I don't think he's a good passer, but it's not because he's inaccurate (I'd estimate he's about average when it comes to accuracy). The problem is he doesn't know what he's seeing. I truly believe that. While it's true his supporting cast sucks there have been way too many instances where he didn't see an opportunity or failed to simply throw the ball away before getting sacked. His ability to run/scramble often works against him as he probably thinks he can always make something happen. In his defense, he's an almost inhuman runner, but still even someone of Fields' ability can't make something out of every single play.
It's possible his decision making would improve with an improved cast. Still, I'm not sure he'll ever be an effective pocket passer in the league. And sadly, the speed fades after a couple of years of hits. With all that said, I still think they need to keep Fields rather than trade for the unknown because there is little reason to think any of these new QB's will be any better...it's a crap shoot.
In some ways, I think QBs coming out from Alabama and Ohio State have BETTER weapons in college than they do in the NFL. I think it's tougher for them working with average Joe's at receiver at the pro level than a batch of future NFL first rounders in college.
First to mind comes Josh Allen, but I don't think his passing numbers in year 2 were nearly as bad as Fields' were this year. I know people don't like to hear it around Chicago, but Fields lagged the NFL by a wide margin in many passing metrics.