{"id":110765,"date":"2021-04-20T18:00:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-20T22:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=110765"},"modified":"2025-09-25T12:02:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T16:02:29","slug":"justin-fields-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021\/04\/20\/justin-fields-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"2021 NFL Draft: Justin Fields Player Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Justin Fields 2021 NFL Draft Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Position: <\/strong>Quarterback<br \/>\n<strong>Height<\/strong>: 6\u2019-3\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Weight: <\/strong>227 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School:<\/strong> Ohio State<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021-nfl-draft-profiles\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>More 2021 NFL Draft Profiles<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Justin Fields 2021 NFL Draft Profile<\/h2>\n<p>Quarterback Justin Fields enters the NFL Draft hoping to disprove the narrative surrounding Ohio State quarterbacks. While the school has failed to produce NFL-caliber passers in previous years, they\u2019ve never produced anyone quite as good as Fields. The dual-threat quarterback is coming off an yet another elite season, completing 69.9% of his passes for 2,093 yards, 9.3 yards per attempt, 22 touchdowns, and six interceptions.<\/p>\n<p>Fields initially entered the collegiate football ranks as one of the top recruits in the nations. Considered the 1B to Trevor Lawrence\u2019s 1A, Fields eventually committed to Ohio State after receiving offers from basically every major program in the country. That decision ultimately paid off, as the quarterback earned the starting job as a Sophomore. During his first year running the offense, Fields completed 66.8% of his passes for 3,272 yards, 9.2 yards per attempt, 41 touchdowns, and just three interceptions.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Deadly accurate \u2013 no window is too tight for him;<\/li>\n<li>Blessed with an absolute cannon \u2013 no part of the field he cannot reach;<\/li>\n<li>Keeps the ball out of harm\u2019s way and keeps the offense moving forward;<\/li>\n<li>Aggressive quarterback that isn\u2019t afraid to push the ball down the field;<\/li>\n<li>Absolute nightmare to defend in the run game \u2013 speed and size combination is just unfair;<\/li>\n<li>Not afraid of taking a big hit to deliver a pass or convert in short-yardage;<\/li>\n<li>Played through a serious rib injury \u2013 nobody should question his drive and passion;<\/li>\n<li>Sound fundamentals with stress-free throwing motion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Ohio State\u2019s offense didn\u2019t force him to go to the second read too often;<\/li>\n<li>Struggled to diagnose blitz throughout 2020;<\/li>\n<li>Accuracy on the move could use some improvement;<\/li>\n<li>Doesn\u2019t sense edge pressure, which can lead to unnecessary big hits;<\/li>\n<li>Fumbles were an issue prior to 2020.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/W\/WatsDe00.htm\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deshaun Watson<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need At Position<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/panthers\" target=\"_self\">Carolina Panthers<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/49ers\" target=\"_self\">San Francisco 49ers<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/raiders\" target=\"_self\">Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/steelers\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/falcons\" target=\"_self\">Atlanta Falcons<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\" target=\"_self\">New England Patriots<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection<\/strong>: Top-five pick<\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line on Justin Fields<\/h3>\n<p>If he reaches his ceiling, Justin Fields will be the best quarterback in this class. Each one of the top-four draft-eligible quarterbacks boast an absolute rocket, but Fields\u2019 combination of arm strength and accuracy is the most enviable of the prospects. It\u2019s rare to see a quarterback this aggressive keep the ball out of harm\u2019s way at such a consistent basis, but that\u2019s exactly what Fields did during his time at Ohio State. Add in his ability as a rusher, and it\u2019s hard to find anything that Fields doesn\u2019t have the physical capability of doing.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, there is a very real chance that Fields doesn\u2019t reach his ceiling. Most evaluators will question his ability to go through his reads, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s as big of an issue as consensus. According to Pro Football Focus, Fields had the highest grade of all the major prospects when throwing to his second or third read. The biggest problem is that he didn\u2019t have to do it too often, as Ohio State\u2019s offense was very quarterback-friendly. Additionally, Fields can hold on to the ball too long, which invites big hits and fumbles. This is the only major concern I have with his game, and something that will need to improve at the next level.<\/p>\n<p>Truthfully, evaluating Fields reminds me of evaluating Deshaun Watson back in 2017. At the time, most viewed the Clemson product as a great physical talent that needed to improve the mental side of his game due to an overly-friendly college offense. Watson obviously worked out (from a purely on-field standpoint), and I expect the same from Fields.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2021-nfl-draft-profiles\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>More 2021 NFL Draft Profiles<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"tKuXsutbTbpiqyCIga_5EQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1297324513\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'tKuXsutbTbpiqyCIga_5EQ',sig:'pAZVYGlTmD4p0QhVXVkN3Np1MauP1jqwD9UJp0zdMhE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1297324513',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Justin Fields absolutely destroyed the college football ranks in 2019 and 2020 and hopes to continue that dominance in the 2021 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":110282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647,33760],"tags":[6990,2030],"class_list":["post-110765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-profiles","tag-justin-fields","tag-nfl-draft-profiles"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110765"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":246957,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110765\/revisions\/246957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}