One of the biggest sticking points with the Chicago Bears ability to trade quarterback Justin Fields was his pending fifth-year option. The longer the Bears waited, the closer that May 2 deadline crept and by then Chicago would presumably have already drafted USC quarterback Caleb Williams.
Now, with the news that the Bears traded Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the onus now falls on the Steelers to decide how to handle that fifth-year option. What will the Steelers do?
The short answer is they aren’t going to give it to him. Pittsburgh might love Fields’ potential and plan on him being this team’s franchise quarterback but they aren’t going to pay him $25 million in 2025.
If the Steelers don’t pick up the option, this would mean that Fields and Russell Wilson would be free agents at the end of the 2024 season. We expect to see at least one of them signed to a contract extension before the start of the season, with our money on Wilson.
