Pittsburgh acquired Justin Fields for a conditional 2025…
Pittsburgh acquired Justin Fields for a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick that remained a sixth and became No. 202 overall. Fields gave the Steelers a useful one-year bridge, going 4-2 in six starts and finishing 2024 with 1,106 passing yards, 289 rushing yards and 10 total touchdowns. Chicago later used the No. 202 pick to acquire guard Jonah Jackson from the Rams. Jackson started all 17 games for the 2025 Bears and remained a starter entering 2026, giving Chicago the stronger realized downstream return to date.
Chicago Bears Received
- pick 2025 sixth-round pick, No. 202 overall, later traded to the Rams for Jonah Jackson
Pittsburgh Steelers Received
- player Justin Fields
Trade Analysis
The Exchange
Pittsburgh acquired Justin Fields from Chicago on March 16, 2024 for a conditional 2025 sixth-round draft choice that could have escalated to a fourth if Fields reached the specified offensive-snap threshold. He did not reach that trigger, so the compensation remained a sixth-rounder and settled at No. 202 overall. For Pittsburgh, the price was modest enough to make the quarterback competition low-risk. For Chicago, the trade closed the Fields chapter before the club selected Caleb Williams first overall.
Pittsburgh Return
Fields ended up starting the first six games while Russell Wilson recovered from a calf injury. The Steelers went 4-2 in those starts. Fields finished his Pittsburgh season with 1,106 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and one interception, plus 289 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns. His 93.3 passer rating was the best of his career to that point. He later shifted to a reserve role and left for the Jets in 2025 free agency. Pittsburgh also benefited at the roster-management level because Fields was one of several qualifying free-agent losses in the formula that generated the club's 2026 compensatory-pick haul, though no single compensatory selection can be assigned solely to Fields.
Chicago Return
The Bears did not use No. 202 on a rookie. In March 2025 they sent the Pittsburgh-origin sixth-round choice to the Los Angeles Rams for veteran guard Jonah Jackson. Chicago's official announcement specifically identifies the sixth as coming via Pittsburgh. Jackson then started all 17 regular-season games at right guard in 2025 and both playoff games. The Bears credited their rebuilt line with allowing only 24 regular-season sacks, third fewest in the league, and Jackson remained on the roster as a starter entering 2026.
Why the Downstream Pick Matters
The legacy record stopped the Chicago side at Gavin Bartholomew because the Rams later sent No. 202 to Minnesota, which drafted him. That is the wrong franchise-value chain for Chicago. Once the Bears traded No. 202 for Jackson, Jackson became Chicago's realized return from the Fields asset. What the Rams did with the pick afterward belongs to a separate transaction. Following the Bears branch changes the evaluation materially.
Final Verdict
Chicago Bears Win, narrowly. Pittsburgh earns a B+ because a sixth-round price bought six starts, a 4-2 record and useful quarterback depth for a playoff season. Chicago earns an A- because it turned an outgoing quarterback with no place in its new plan into the exact sixth-round asset later used to acquire a 17-game starting guard who remained part of the lineup beyond one season. Both clubs extracted useful value, but the Bears have the stronger realized and more durable return through the current record.