Poles press conf. - CHGO breaks it down. (good stuff)
Mar 25, 2024 14:57:35 GMT -6
shark86, billymurray, and 1 more like this
Post by bearsinhouston on Mar 25, 2024 14:57:35 GMT -6
I was out for a few days. I just saw the Poles interview. He said that trading Fields had nothing to do with drafting Williams. As a matter of fact, he said he still had not made a decision on his pick at #1. I think he mostly has, but it sounds like it is not set in concrete.
A few comments were illuminating. He said that it was mostly due to wanting a reset at QB. The fact that the inexpensive part of a rookies contract was ending soon for Fields and that it would be hard to put a good team around him once the numbers went up sounds like the biggest factor in his decision. He discussed why he did not want both Fields and a new QB on the team at the same time (he said they had extensive discussions about it). He was asked about what went wrong with Fields and he specifically mentioned the change on the team and mentioned not building enough around him (he learns fast -- he IS building for the new QB). So Fields had not had as much success as they wanted and they were running out of runway with his salary. If they did this rebuild they are doing this year and it worked with Fields, they were going to have to pay him and the rest of the rebuild would become difficult. So they are going to go new and restart the QB clock.
I knew that the rookie salary thing was important to them, but honestly, I was surprised it was as important as he hinted. To me, you continue to develop a guy if he is growing. But at least we all have more clarity on this. It did not appear so much that they felt Fields could not do it, just that they didn't want to pay the salary to find out. This gives them more runway and more years of success (as long as they pick the right guy and he actually lives up to their hopes).
A few comments were illuminating. He said that it was mostly due to wanting a reset at QB. The fact that the inexpensive part of a rookies contract was ending soon for Fields and that it would be hard to put a good team around him once the numbers went up sounds like the biggest factor in his decision. He discussed why he did not want both Fields and a new QB on the team at the same time (he said they had extensive discussions about it). He was asked about what went wrong with Fields and he specifically mentioned the change on the team and mentioned not building enough around him (he learns fast -- he IS building for the new QB). So Fields had not had as much success as they wanted and they were running out of runway with his salary. If they did this rebuild they are doing this year and it worked with Fields, they were going to have to pay him and the rest of the rebuild would become difficult. So they are going to go new and restart the QB clock.
I knew that the rookie salary thing was important to them, but honestly, I was surprised it was as important as he hinted. To me, you continue to develop a guy if he is growing. But at least we all have more clarity on this. It did not appear so much that they felt Fields could not do it, just that they didn't want to pay the salary to find out. This gives them more runway and more years of success (as long as they pick the right guy and he actually lives up to their hopes).
