Justin Fields

BIOGRAPHY

Justin Fields was born March 5, 1999, in Kennesaw, Georgia. He is a quarterback in the National Football League.

Fields attended Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Georgia. In two years as the starting quarterback for Harrison, he totaled 4,187 passing yards, 41 passing touchdowns, 2,096 rushing yards, and 28 rushing touchdowns. In the summer before his senior year in 2017, he attended the Elite 11 quarterback competition and was named MVP of the event. Late in his senior year, in a game that was nationally televised on ESPN, he suffered a broken finger that required season-ending surgery. After his senior season, he was named Mr. Georgia Football by the Touchdown Club of Atlanta, as well as first-team all-state. In addition to football, Fields was also a standout baseball player for Harrison High. As a 5-star recruit Fields committed to Georgia. Fields transferred in 2019 to Ohio State and was granted immediate transfer eligibility. In Field's first season with the Buckeyes, he helped lead the team to a Big Ten Championship with a 34–21 victory over Wisconsin, and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Fields finished in third in voting for the Heisman Trophy, was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, and first-team all-conference. In the 2019 Fiesta Bowl against Clemson, he had 320 passing yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions in the 29–23 loss in the College Football Playoff semifinal. He finished the season with 3,273 passing yards, 41 passing touchdowns, and three interceptions to go along with 484 rushing yards and ten rushing touchdowns.   

Fields entered the 2020 season as a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. The season was played amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with the Big Ten Conference ultimately opting for a shortened conference-only schedule after initially canceling the season. Fields was vocal in his support of playing the season, and he started an online petition that gathered over 320,000 signatures in support of that goal. Fields helped lead the Buckeyes to another undefeated regular season and Big Ten Championship with a 22–10 victory over Northwestern. Ohio State received another bid to the College Football Playoff, playing a rematch against Clemson. Ohio State was victorious in the rematch, 49–28, with Fields throwing 385 passing yards and six touchdowns in the game. Fields took a hard hit to the midsection in the game, and played through the injury in a performance that Sports Illustrated dubbed "legendary". The Buckeyes advanced to the College Football Playoff National Championship, where they lost to Alabama, 52–24. Fields finished the shorted 2020 season with 2,100 passing yards, 22 passing touchdowns, six interceptions, and added 383 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns on the ground. He repeated as the Big Ten's Offensive Player of the Year and unanimous first-team all-conference. On January 18, 2021, Fields announced that he would be forgoing his final year of eligibility to enter the 2021 NFL Draft.

Fields was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the first round, 11th overall pick, of the 2021 NFL Draft. The Bears traded with the New York Giants, sending the 20th overall pick and their fifth-round pick in 2021, along with their first and fourth-round picks in 2022. He signed his four-year rookie contract, worth $18.8 million fully guaranteed, on June 10, 2021.

In 2022, Fields threw for 2,242 yards, 17 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and rushed for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns in 15 games played. Fields became the third NFL quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards in a season after Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson. He also set the Bears single-season quarterback rushing yards record, eclipsing Bobby Douglass' 968 yards in 1972.