The Kansas City Chiefs needed a new backup quarterback and they got one earlier this week, trading for former first-round pick Justin Fields. The move was met with mixed reviews, as Fields struggled during his 2025 campaign with the Jets but hasn't exactly had stable coaching during his pro career so far.
One advocate of the addition is First Things First co-host and Chiefs fan Nick Wright, who applauded the move. During an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, Wright was asked about the Chiefs trading for Fields and he couldn't hide his excitement about Patrick Mahomes' newest backup.
"I really like the [Justin] Fields addition because [the Chiefs] gave up nothing, so he's price-wise very cheap for a backup, [at] 3 million bucks. Gardner Minshew was the Chiefs backup last year, [and] just got paid $7 million. You can say 'Well they traded a sixth [round pick]', but because the NFL's weird comp pick formula had they signed a backup, they would have lost a seventh [round pick] so they ended up essentially getting him for nothing. And I wanted the Chiefs four years ago, Dan, to sign Cam Newton so we can run quarterback sneaks again," Wright said. "Make teams when they play the Chiefs spend 10 minutes of practice that week dealing with the Wildcat quarterback run package... I think Fields can get on the field even once Patrick is back."
This is certainly a fun aspect of the Fields signing to think about. Not only does it give Mahomes one of the more high-profile backups that he's had in his career but Fields' presence could allow this team to finally run true quarterback sneaks. That's something the Chiefs have avoided doing since 2019 when Mahomes was injured after attempting one in a Thursday night game against Denver.
There are plenty of other reasons to be excited about the Fields trade but Wright's reasoning definitely adds another wrinkle to the acquisition. If the Chiefs are in 3rd-and-inches or 4th-and-inches situation, why not use Fields to run a QB sneak and try to pick up the first down that way? So many other teams do it successfully and the Chiefs have not been one of those teams due to being scarred from the Mahomes injury seven years ago.
Fields has a chance to reinvent himself with the Chiefs and if QB sneaks end up being a part of that, K.C. will be the big winners of this trade.