INDIANAPOLIS — Here’s how awkward the NFL Draft has gotten as the Bears weigh their options with the No. 1 pick: One of the top quarterbacks said straight-up he doesn’t want them to draft him.
One of the most common, and pointless, exchanges that repeats itself throughout the NFL Scouting Combine is a prospect being asked if he wants to go to a certain team and him responding by saying he’d be happy landing with any of them. But when Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud was asked Friday about the idea of the Bears picking him, which would mean they’d trade his former college teammate Justin Fields, he bristled at the suggestion.
“I mean, no, I don’t want to go there,” Stroud said. “That’s his team. I can do my thing. I can go build my legacy. Me and him are brothers for life.”
He also adamantly defended Fields, who has been at the center of pre-draft speculation after a choppy first two seasons with the Bears. Last season, he became the third quarterback in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards, but finished last among qualifying quarterbacks in yards passing (149.5 per game), 25th in passer rating (85.2) and 31st in completion percentage (60.4).
Bears general manager Ryan Poles has backed Fields and indicated the plan as of now is to stick with him, but has been open about needing him to improve as a passer and has not closed the door definitively on trading him and drafting his replacement.
It’s merely the latest chapter in a tumultuous start to his career, which has been marked by coaching dysfunction and poor support personnel-wise.
“I was proud of him,” Stroud said. “There’s so many times when you get knocked down, but I feel like a true man’s character is when you get knocked down, you get back up. And he’s gotten up every time and he’s stepped up to the plate and he hasn’t blamed nobody, he hasn’t pointed no fingers or anything. That just shows you what type of man he is and what type of family he comes from.
“You get hit so many times in the face and you have to make plays using your feet. And he ain’t no damn running back. He’s a quarterback. He can sling that rock. I’m gonna stand up for my brother every time, and he’s gonna do great things in his career and I’m excited to play with him.”
Stroud, a contender to go No. 1 overall depending on who holds the pick by draft day, was with Fields at Ohio State in 2020.
