The Kansas City Chiefs solved their need for a backup quarterback by acquiring Justin Fields in a trade from the New York Jets.

Fields will be the fifth different No. 2 quarterback for the Chiefs since 2022. They will lean on him as starter Patrick Mahomes continues to rehab from the torn ACL he sustained back in December.

As for Fields, he will get the opportunity to learn under Mahomes and coach Andy Reid, and potentially start some games if Mahomes isn’t ready to play. The ultimate goal for Fields will be to get another shot as a team’s starting quarterback.

Like Fields with the Chicago Bears, Darnold was unable to become the franchise quarterback for the team that drafted him, the New York Jets. After bouncing around with a few different teams, Darnold found his home with the Seahawks, leading them to Super Bowl victory this past season. NFL insider Albert Breer recently expressed that Fields could replicate Darnold’s formula.

“The move is similar to Sam Darnold’s decision, after five years, to go to San Francisco to back up Brock Purdy, and the two quarterbacks’ numbers through five years aren’t dissimilar. They are different, stylistically. But one thing both had in common coming out of college is that they hadn’t put all their athletic gifts together as quarterbacks, and needed to come to a place where they’d see the game, and play, a little faster from the pocket.

So now, Fields gets a chance to do the same. As Patrick Mahomes rehabs from a torn ACL, he’ll get first-team reps through OTAs and minicamp, and maybe into training camp, which will get him a lot of time on task with Andy Reid. Then, whenever Mahomes returns, he’ll have the shot to learn to see the three-time champ run a system that’s as tried-and-true as any in the NFL. And you see where it goes from there. That’s not, to be clear, to say that Fields will win the Super Bowl in three years. But the move he made this week gives him a better shot at things like that.”

Had Fields joined another team as a backup, he may have just rode the bench the entire year without taking any valuable reps. However, with Mahomes unlikely to participate in OTAs or minicamp, Fields will get to take all of his snaps as the starter.

It is unknown how much, if at all, Mahomes will participate in training camp in late July, so Fields will likely get plenty of first-team reps then as well. It would also be shocking if Mahomes participates during the preseason, whether he’s healthy or not.

That would provide Fields with plenty of live game action for other teams to see. Finally, there’s the regular season, in which Fields could participate in regardless if Mahomes makes every start. It would obviously benefit Fields the most if he’s able to make a few starts and plays well, but he could also make an impact as off the bench with a package of specialty plays.