The Kansas City Chiefs signed Justin Fields in case Patrick Mahomes can't go, and Fields could set an NFL record.
When you think of quarterback Justin Fields and NFL history, all kinds of bad things come to mind. Fields has struggled mightily during his career so far, and some of those numbers he posted with the New York Jets were so epically bad that some history seems possible.
But Fields has a chance to make a very specific kind of history in Kansas City this season, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk via a note from Rich Ciminiti of ESPN. If Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes can’t go in Week 1, which seems entirely possible given the severity of the knee injury that ended his season, Fields will become the first quarterback ever to start in the first game for four different teams in four different seasons.
This isn’t the sort of record most players would want to set, although there are certainly some who would welcome the chance to simply stay in the league. It does speak to how much quarterback hope has become a part of today’s NFL game, especially for an athlete like Fields who seems to have so much potential before he actually takes the field.
The rundown of Fields’ journey so far reads as follows: In his rookie season in 2023, Fields started for the Chicago Bears. In 2024, he started for the Pittsburgh Steelers after Russell Wilson was injured. And last year, of course, he started for the New York Jets.
Fields is already in the record books for this sort of thing, according to Florio, although he does have company. He’s one of just seven quarterbacks since 1950 to make three straight Week 1 starts for three different teams.
The schedule makers could make a move to capitalize on this, Florio notes, although that depends a lot on how close Mahomes is to taking the field when the schedule gets released. Last year, for instance, the NFL pitted the Jets against the Steelers in Week 1 to create some intrigue and drama, but the impact of that kind of move seems questionable at best.
Mahomes, however, is another matter entirely. He declared right after the season that he intended to play in Week 1 this year, but that kind of talk has died down, and the signing of Fields might indicate that he’s further behind in his rehab that we’ve been led to believe. If he actually is progressing enough to make this happen, all sorts of juicy scheduling possibilities come into play.