Justin Fields: I’m already a top-5 rushing QB in NFL history

Last updated: 2023/07/18 at 10:52 PM

BigP Published July 18, 2023

If there’s one thing that Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields can do, it is run the football. In fact, the soon-to-be third-year signal-caller thinks he’s already among the elite rushing quarterbacks in NFL history.

Fields included himself among the top-five rushing quarterbacks in league history in an interview with CBS Sports on Monday. Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Lamar Jackson and Steve Young were the other four quarterbacks in Fields’ top five, but he listed them in no particular order.

Fields ran for 1,143 yards on an NFL-best 7.1 yards per carry across 15 games last season, just short of Jackson’s single-season quarterback record of 1,206 rushing yards in 2019 for the Baltimore Ravens. Prior to Jackson, Vick held the quarterback rushing record, logging 1,039 yards in 2006 with the Atlanta Falcons.

Vick is No. 1 among quarterbacks in all-time rushing yards (6,109 yards), followed by Newton (5,628) — who won the 2015 NFL MVP with the Carolina Panthers — at No. 2. Meanwhile, Jackson, 26, is fifth in said category with 4,437 yards. Young — a Hall of Famer who won Super Bowl XXIX under center for the San Francisco 49ers — ran for 4,239 yards, good for sixth all-time among quarterbacks.

As for the rest of his game, Fields totaled 2,242 passing yards, 17 passing touchdowns, 11 interceptions and an 85.2 passer rating in 2022, while completing 60.4% of his passes.

The Bears are coming off a 3-14 season and are just 5-20 in games that Fields has started. That said, Chicago beefed up its offense this offseason, adding wide receiver D.J. Moore, tight end Robert Tonyan, running back D’Onta Foreman and offensive linemen Nate Davis and Darnell Wright (NFL Draft).

Chicago traded up to select Fields with the No. 11 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft out of Ohio State.

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