Former Bucs quarterback and current NBC Sports football analyst Chris Simms had a shocking pick for Tampa Bay in his last NFL mock draft.
With speculation that the Bucs could draft a quarterback this year to eventually succeed Tom Brady, Simms predicts Ohio State QB Justin Fields falling to Tampa Bay at No. 32.
“The Bucs take Justin Fields at No. 32,” Simms said on his Chris Simms Unbuttoned podcast. “The Bucs got everything. There’s no need on their football team. Again, I didn’t go into this with a preconceived notion of like, ‘I’m going to leave Justin Fields for the Bucs at No. 32.’ I didn’t do that. You know how I do this. I want to be right, I try to use logic. … I could see this happening. And if he’s there, they’re going to take him. They’re going to go, ‘Great! This is perfect for you. Learn from Tom Brady. You know? Get some of the polish.’ Brady will be able to teach him some of the mechanical stuff. Then Brady wants to retire? Great. We’re got our guy and he can take off.”
Ohio State QB Justin Fields – Photo by: USA Today
Fields, who is regarded as a potential Top 10 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, helped lead the Buckeyes to the National Championship Game where Ohio State lost to Alabama. Fields passed for 5,701 yards with 67 touchdowns and just nine interceptions in two years with the Buckeyes after transferring from Georgia.
The 6-3, 228-pound Fields passed for 3,273 yards with 41 TDs and 3 INTs as a sophomore. Last year in eight games, Fields completed 70.2 percent of his passes for 2,100 yards with 22 TDs and six INTs.
Fields is also a good runner, recording 1,133 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground. While he has good mobility and a strong arm, there have been some questions about Fields’ ability to read defenses. Questions linger about his ability get to his second and third option in the passing game.
Simms admitted that it might be unlikely that Fields falls to the end of the first round, but he has been critical of the OSU star over the past year and has him as the No. 6 QB on his board.
“If it happens at the end of the night, I’m dropping the mic and I’m not coming into work the next day,” Simms said.
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About the Author: Scott Reynolds
Wishful thinking.
Did Simms lose his spline, or his brain? Why would he make such a stupid statement? I don’t think Fields is all that, but I know he won’t be there at 32 so mocking him to the Bucs isn’t very bright. On a side note, I know PR needs to make a buck, but your infolink pop up is so annoying. It’s getting old having it pop up with every click.
You’re right about those really annoying pop-ups Surfer. How much can I pay to make them stop?
Whew!!! When I say that headline I though we were taking a kicker at 32! There’s no way fields lasts until 32, but if he does he is probably a Buc.
“If it happens at the end of the night, I’m dropping the mic and I’m not coming into work the next day,” Simms said.
That’s it Chris? You gotta have a better bet than that.
He ain’t dropping the Mic. It’s gonna get batted down at the line of scrimmage….
Chris Simms has always been an idiot he uses his dad’s name to get tv gigs cause most fans don’t remember him outside of Tampa
OK, his father was a better QB than him. But there are worse ways to earn the money to feed your family than being paid for talking football. And if you consider for how long he is doing it at least he seems to be a wealthy idiot.
“No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public,” H.L. Mencken.
P.T. Barnum is reputed to have said “There is a sucker born every minute.”
Being a political centrist and an Independant I tend to look at a certain percentage of the voters of both major political parties in this country in a similar light. Hence the current “Great Divide”! 🙄😅
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Go Bucs!!! Super Bowl Champs!
Simms makes a helluva lot more money projecting draft picks than you do.
So who’s the idiot here?
It was revealed that Fields suffers from epilepsy…. I have no idea if it’s impacting how he is being perceived, but it’s true than quite often many males don’t outgrow it until they are about 25 (my son had severe seizures, and didn’t get over it until late 20’s… the other thing that needs to be said, the medicine used to control seizures does affect your ability process information, but has no long term effects…. after getting off the medicine, eventually the thinking process is restored)
Thanks for posting this. As I read more, it seems that I am reading that all antiepileptic medications have the potential to have the detrimental side effect of slowing cognition. This is by nature of the medication to actually stop brain activity because that is the known way to control epilepsy. (If I am wrong on my reading Michael76 let me know). So if you are a GM, that may just be the reason you are not going to invest a high draft choice on him. Now if you are the Bucs and are looking to the next two seasons,… Read more »
It is speculated that Fields would drop to the mid or late first round. But would teams ahead of the Bucs pass on Fields at that point? I am not so sure about that.
Only 4 quarterbacks were taken in the first round in the 2020 draft. And only three first rounders were taken in the 2019 draft. Those are pretty typical numbers of first round quarterbacks, year to year.
If anyone has Fields, or any other quarterback candidate, ranked as fifth best or worse, there is an extremely high probability he’ll still be available at no. 32. Simms happens to rank Fields as #6 in his class.
If you listened to the entire podcast, you would hear him say that another team not moving up wasn’t really in his calculation. It was simply looking at each team staying put and drafting based upon their draft history and need. So based upon that, I get it. But he also conceded that there was a certainly a chance a team would jump up before he got to us.
Surferdudes, remember what Forest Gump said about stupid.
I hear people ragging Ohio St. QB’s as much as I rag Gator QB’s.
So Simms thinks we are going to draft one that can’t read college defenses?
Super!
What a moron.
Hey ..we drafted Jameis. And after the snap, he couldn’t read defensive adjustments. But maybe we did learn something from that entire experience.
He could read them, it just took him to long to process the info. But you make a valid point. DC’s realized this and started giving him goofy pre snap looks. I think it was the Bengals who were the first to realize this which resulted in Winston getting benched. Word spread around the league fast after that. So we want to draft a QB who has trouble reading pre snap defenses. Yikes!
He’s not defending Fields as a quarterback candidate, he’s simply projecting Fields as the sixth best quarterback in this draft, and on that basis he believes Fields will still be available at no. 32, and that the Bucs would take him at that pick.
Nothing moronic about that except you and a few others here calling Simms a moron.
I bet that “moron” makes a helluva lot more money at projecting draft picks than you do.
So tell me again, who’s the moron?
I thought it was absolutely crazy until Chris reminded us that Lamar Jackson was drafted 32nd. Is it likely…not really. But if he is there at 32 I dont see the Bucs passing on him.
Last year a total of 4 quarterbacks were taken in the first round … and the year before that, only 3 QBs were drafted in the first. So depending upon where teams have Fields, and any other quarterback candidate, ranked among quarterbacks, yes, it is actually easy to imagine Fields or another second tier quarterback falling to the end of the first round. Now the draft prognosticators always seem to project more quarterbacks taken in the first than are actually drafted there, on the assumption that every team that isn’t in the playoffs is desperate for a quarterback above all… Read more »
This guy needs a new profession. This is the absolute most STUPID thing I’ve ever seen forecasted for a draft. Is he on drugs? SMDH
It is not stupid at all.
Simms is kind of like the Skip Bayless of the NFL. He purposely says things for shock value. If one of his outlandish predictions comes true in a couple of years (broken clock is right twice a day) then he will rub all our faces in it.
I’m not sure he even believes some of the stuff he says.
He just doesn’t repeat the same old, same old convention unwisdom that other prognosticators spew out. His analysis makes great sense. Only 4 quarterbacks were taken in the first round in 2020, and only 3 in 2019. If Fields is perceived by the leagues GMs as fifth or sixth best, he will almost certainly still be there at no. 32. Whether the Bucs would take him, or someone else, is only a guess.
Simms got busted for pot possession once. I think he is still glued to the bong.
I think people are reading too much into this. He wasn’t projecting trades. He was just saying, if everyone doesn’t trade, and drafts based on needs, Fields could possibly fall Also, there’s a ton of people calling Simms a moron, and saying that he makes outlandish predictions to try and grab headlines. I think that’s so incredibly false. For starters, he might be the single best predictor of QB’s out there in the analyst business right now. Has been for a few years. Find me someone better at predicting QB’s? In 2017, he had Mahomes as his top rated QB.… Read more »
This prediction is at least a bit bold. Unlike the countless others that merely echo each other. I still haven’t forgotten Aaron Rodgers, thought to be selected either first or second with Alex Smith, lasting until near the end of the 1st round as he pouted in the Green Room. Virtually nothing is impossible when it comes to the Draft.
Yup – the NFL draft is like a box of chocolates …
Completed 70.2% of his passes? How many of those passes were screens and flats? How many were dumping off short yardage? They question we should be asking, is how is his long ball accuracy? Can he drop a 30+ yard dime? Brady can teach him to read defenses better than anyone, but he can’t teach the natural ability of touch. Under-shooting or over-shooting is a physical error. The Bucs need to target a QB that has the natural ability of great touch (accuracy). The mental skills can be taught. And I don’t think Fields is worth a #1 draft pick.… Read more »
It’s very easy to toss rocks at Simms for this notion… he has bucked the consensus opinions regularly, but when you truly look at his track record, his evaluations have been historically VERY good.. He does his mocks differently than most. He doesn’t lean toward where a player will go, he looks at where he thinks they should go.. big difference. I’m confident Fields will be long gone by 32, but then again, I thought Lamar Jackson was a top 10 pick. What pick was he again?????
Oh… and Simms will be a GM sooner than later… That you can bank on.