Anybody who watched Justin Fields for two seasons at Ohio State knows exactly what he can bring to the table.
A former five-star quarterback and No. 2-ranked overall recruit in the 2018 recruiting class behind Trevor Lawrence, Fields proved those rankings more than correct time and again over the course of the 2019 and 2020 campaigns.
Fields was a Heisman finalist in his first full season as a starter, and he led the Buckeyes to two straight College Football Playoff appearances, including one of the most brilliant performances by an Ohio State player in program history with a six-touchdown star turn against Clemson in January.
He proved himself as one of the best college players in America and worthy of being dubbed the greatest quarterback in Ohio State history with some debate.
Justin Fields turns 22 today which is more than enough reason to revisit his 6 TD dimes in the game of his life against Clemson in January.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 5, 2021
cc: fans of teams with a top 5 pick pic.twitter.com/8O6Kw7NuJz
But that hasn't stopped many NFL draft analysts and scouts from dishing out some pre-draft criticism of Fields. There are some mock drafts that have had him not being selected until the mid-teens or even into the 20s, and many believe he could be the third or fourth quarterback selected – instead of being the shoo-in for the No. 2 overall spot or even battling Lawrence for being the No. 1 pick like some debated during the season.
When asked on Wednesday about some of those criticisms Fields has taken on over the past two months, Ryan Day took to the podium to stand by his former star who made life a lot easier on him in his first two seasons as the Buckeyes' CEO.
“Whatever NFL team asks him to do, he will learn it very, very quickly. One thing he’s gonna do is he’s gonna make a lot of plays. When you look back on his career here and what he did, he made a lot of plays. This is the time of year in the NFL draft where people are gonna go after you and try to find your warts. That’s fine. And they may find something that’s really perfect for their system and they might wanna find someone who really fits into a box.
“I can promise you this, Justin Fields is gonna make plays in the NFL. No matter what you do, no matter what you say, you can’t put a value on that – his ability to make plays. He’s done it with space, with his feet, making throws down the field, those things are gonna continue to happen at that level. Again, I always think great coaching is adjusting your scheme to the personnel that you have, and some team’s gonna get very lucky by drafting him.”
As we approach the NFL draft that kicks off on April 29, one of the biggest critiques people have thrown around about Fields has been the idea that he is a one-read quarterback. That when the first target in his play call isn't open, Fields doesn't go through progressions and stand and deliver to his second or third options.
Day believes that criticism is unfair, and he stood by Fields' ability and the fact that much of Ohio State's scheme, especially last season, was centered around getting the ball to All-Big Ten receivers Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson.
“I don’t really think much about them,” Day said of the criticism of Fields. “I don’t really listen to any of them because when I coached in the NFL and coached quarterbacks in the NFL, I would listen to guys speak and have my opinions on the quarterbacks that I would study and then I would listen to what they say and some guys were really accurate and some guys weren’t even close. So I get it. They all have a job to do. But some of that stuff, I don’t really put much stock into.
“I think when you look at Justin’s body of work, when you’re throwing to Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and some of the guys we have and the first read is open a lot, that’s not his fault. You know what I mean? There’s a reason we put certain plays in, and if the first read is to go to Garrett Wilson or Chris Olave – we have a lot of receivers who are really good – that’s where the ball goes. Part of that is good recruiting, some of it’s good game planning, whatever. But there was a lot of times where Justin got back to two, three and sometimes four, five (number of reads). He has the ability to do that. He’s very, very intelligent; really sharp. It doesn’t take much for him to learn a play and get it.”
