Jimmy Graham has played with his fair share of great quarterbacks throughout his career: Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers are the most notable. Graham has only been through a week of training camp practice with Justin Fields and the five-time Pro Bowl tight end is already comparing Fields to one of those three quarterbacks.
The Bears tight end sees a lot of Wilson in Fields. Certainly Chicago fans will take that comparison.
"Man, I love the kid," Graham said, via Adam Jahns of The Athletic. "He sits beside me in the locker room and, man, he wants to be good. He wants to be great. He puts in the work. The guy can really throw the ball. That's been impressive to see his arm strength.
"At some point I've got to get him matched up with a guy up there in Seattle. Especially, you know, the ability to make plays while you're running, I think he's going to have -- it's been impressive to see him so young, so focused. And I can tell it definitely reminds me a lot of Russell Wilson."
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If Fields can get off to the start Wilson has in his career, the city may be forced to put up a statue outside of Soldier Field. The definition of a franchise quarterback, Wilson has the second-most passing touchdowns (267) in his first nine seasons in the NFL -- trailing only Peyton Manning. He also has the fifth-most passing yards (33,946), and second-highest passer rating (101.7) for a quarterback after his first nine seasons. Wilson, Manning, and Dan Marino are the only quarterbacks in NFL history to have thrown for 20-plus touchdown passes in each of their first nine seasons.
Fields is currently battling with Andy Dalton for the starting quarterback job in Chicago. The Seattle Seahawks took the chance on starting Wilson over Matt Flynn (who they signed to a three-year deal) in Week 1 of the 2012 season and Wilson never relinquished the job. Filed can accomplish the same in Chicago -- if he gets the opportunity.
"Chicago hasn't really had a franchise quarterback," Fields said, via The Bears Wire. "So me just getting the opportunity here, there couldn't be a better place for me to end up."
