Chris Sims thinks really low of Justin Fields as a quarterback.
On Monday, NBC Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms began unveiling his list of the top 40 quarterbacks in the NFL. Easily the most notable decision made was putting Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields near the bottom.
Simms listed Fields as No. 39, which had him only ahead of Cleveland Browns backup quarterback Case Keenum.
“Special running ability,” Simms tweeted. “Arm is top notch. Could be a top 20 QB halfway through the season. But his bad mechanics scare me a lot…led to bad incompletions on routine NFL throws. I am rooting for him, hope he makes me eat my words this season.”
On his show, Simms went into more detail about some of the red flags he sees in Fields’ game.
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“You know my issues,” Simms said. “The throwing mechanics are really my biggest issues. The inconsistencies there. Too many slam dunk NFL completions that were left as incomplete in the college game. That bothered me. He is a little bit of a boom or bust prospect … There’s got to be things he has to clean up and I have to see first before I can put him in front of some other guys.”
“I know I was one of the negative guys on Justin Fields in the draft process,” Simms said. “I’m sorry. There’s still a lot I really like about Justin Fields. Is he a guy that could be on here, play, and make a huge jump by Week 10? No doubt about it. He’s got that type of talent. We’ll see. He scares me, just like he did in the draft process, for me to put him too much higher in the rankings.
“Special running ability, like we’ve talked about. We know the arm is top notch. When you piece it all together, he can do some stuff on a highlight reel. … He’s got all the tools to be a superstar. Now it’s just putting it together. That’s why he’s No. 39. He’s got the potential to be a top-20 guy halfway through the year. He really does. He’s also got some issues where he could fall down farther than No. 39 if it got to the bad aspect that scares me.”
In Simms’ rankings ahead of Fields were San Francisco 49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance (No. 38), Minnesota Vikings rookie Kellen Mond (No. 37), and Las Vegas Raiders backup Marcus Mariota (No. 36).
