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Justin Fields is most likely to break out in 2023, per the Football Outsiders Awards

The people have spoken! Justin Fields could be primed for big things in 2023!

By Lester A. Wiltfong Jr.
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NFL: Philadelphia Eagles at Chicago Bears Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports

Football Outsiders is one of the top analytic football sites out there that provides plenty of interesting ways to gauge the teams in the NFL, and they recently revealed the results of the 20th annual Football Outsiders Awards. The awards are 100% voted on by their readers, but as they cater to a national audience, I found many categories' winners interesting. Including their winner for the player most likely to break out in 2023, Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields.

Here's what FO had to say about their readers picking Fields.

Well this is interesting. Thanks in part to Jeff Saturday’s incompetence, the Chicago Bears hold the top pick in April’s draft, and there’s some discussion that they could trade Justin Fields and select C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young instead. According to our readers, that would be a mistake—Fields has a lot of room to improve, but he has also shown a rare ability to produce long plays with his arms and legs alike. Players with these gifts don’t grow on trees.

And here's how their voting went.

  1. 10.5% Justin Fields, CHI
  2. 6.7% Trey Lance, SF
  3. 6.4% George Pickens, PIT
  4. 4.2% Jameson Williams, DET
  5. 3.8% Kenny Pickett, PIT
  6. 3.2% Trevor Lawrence, JAX
  7. 3.2% Christian Watson, GB
  8. 2.9% Jordan Love, GB

FYI, their readers picked Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence as the winner in this category a season ago.

Elsewhere, Trey Lance finishes second for the second year in a row as he remains a walking bundle of unfulfilled potential. And Pittsburgh’s George Pickens flashed big-play potential down the stretch, averaging 17.8 yards per catch after the Steelers’ bye in Week 9.

The Trevor Lawrence votes are interesting. Didn’t he already break out this year? That was a good call in the 2021 awards by the readers.

The Bears received a few other mentions in their voting — defensive player of the year, most improved player of 2022, surprise Super Bowl contender for next year, slip and slide celebration — so check out their full results here.

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