Significant QB trade has implications for Broncos past and present

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Significant QB trade has implications for Broncos past and present

Mar 16, 2024, 5:08 PM

Phil explains the Broncos current free agency troubles

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BY ANDREW MASON

Senior Broncos Writer

Justin Fields is on the move. And he’s going to the place where Russell Wilson landed this week.

The Pittsburgh Steelers acquired the 2021 first-round pick from Chicago for a sixth-round choice. ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported the terms of the deal. The pick can become a fourth-rounder if Fields plays at least 51 percent of the Steelers’ snaps this season.

The compensation is less than than what ended up being surrendered in similar trades of recent days. Pittsburgh traded Kenny Pickett to Philadelphia and Washington dealt Sam Howell to Seattle in draft-pick swaps that effectively valued those quarterbacks as late-third-to-early-fourth-round picks.

But Howell and Pickett have two more years remaining on their rookie contracts. Justin Fields has just one.

And it is not out of the realm of possibility that Fields could not only push Wilson — but nudge him out. Both Fields and Wilson will operate on one-year contracts without even the illusion of permanence unless the Steelers elect to exercise the fifth-year option on Fields.

TRADING JUSTIN FIELDS APPEARS TO GUARANTEE THE BEARS WILL LAND CALEB WILLIAMS

With Justin Fields now on the move after three seasons in Chicago, all the pieces are now aligned for Caleb Williams to go to the Bears with the No. 1 overall pick.

The Broncos had a formal interview with Williams at the NFL Scouting Combine, just as they did with fellow QB prospects Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Bo Nix, Michael Penix Jr. and Spencer Rattler. Denver also informally met with Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt at the Combine after interviewing him during Senior Bowl week.

Trading up to the No. 1 overall pick is not realistic given the Broncos’ lack of draft capital; they don’t have their second-round pick this year. What’s more, they aren’t expected to have any compensatory picks in the 2025 draft based on their free-agent activity in the last six days.