Breaking from the norm, two quarterback situations remain unsettled following the preseason schedule. The Patriots are considering moving Drake Maye into their lineup early, while the Steelers are determining if Justin Fields has passed Russell Wilson. It certainly appears the younger Pittsburgh passer has made this a difficult decision.
The Steelers are taking more time before announcing their starter, with Mike Tomlin going so far as to say this week of practice will play a potentially deciding role in who lands the job. Wilson’s rocky Broncos tenure made the team’s proclamations about him being the clear frontrunner a bit odd, and Fields indeed has closed the gap.
Wilson is still viewed as the more likely Week 1 starter, but Fields lurks — to the point it would be easy to see the younger passer usurping the veteran early in the season. The 2021 first-round pick has real support in the building, according to SI.com’s Albert Breer. The Steelers acquired Fields for just a conditional sixth-round pick — a return much lower than initially expected — and while they are not planning to negotiate with either quarterback until season’s end, rumors about the team circling back about a post-2024 future with the 25-year-old arm surfaced this offseason.
Of course, immediate reports out of Pittsburgh both said Fields would not seriously challenge Wilson and that the team was interested in a post-2024 partnership with the former Super Bowl winner as well. Wilson has since missed time with a calf injury. The 13th-year veteran is full-go now, but he has not created enough distance from Fields to be considered safe just yet. This trajectory would stand to give Wilson a short leash should he end up winning the job.
Viewing Fields as having lost confidence from his inconsistent Bears tenure, the Steelers changed his footwork this offseason. The Arthur Smith-led effort shifted Fields to the dropback mechanics he used at Ohio State, Breer adds. In the preseason, Fields went 19-for-27 for 199 yards. Playing in two preseason games, Wilson was 10 of 12 for 73 yards. Both struggled to move the offense in Pittsburgh’s second preseason game, but Wilson led a TD drive in the team’s finale. Fields did not lead any scoring drives against Detroit this past weekend.
If Wilson holds off Fields, this will still be a situation to monitor and represent new territory for the potential Hall of Famer. Despite Wilson’s inconsistency in Denver, he was never in any real danger of being benched for performance reasons. He certainly will be this year, and Fields holds a decent chance of winning the job from the start. This would put the former Seahawks star’s career at a crossroads, whereas Fields seems to have upped his stock with the organization in recent weeks.
For all his faults as a player, Fields does seem to win over teammates, which does not exactly seem to be Wilson’s strong suit.
If only winning over teammates was enough to win games and be a top tier QB
Indeed. But he’s still better than what they had last year and they won 10 games then. I’m guessing they’ll once again be either a bottom rung playoff team or a top rung non-playoff team.
He may be better, but I don’t know how certain it is. Of course he put up better stats-well, he should have. It was an offense that, despite its failings, was still set up with him as the focal point in theory. Fields also was expected to be the Bears’ starter for the whole year, played more games that year than any of the Steelers’ quarterbacks, and had been the starter in Chicago for years before that.
Maybe Fields does offer more than Pickett-which isn’t hard, really-but I’m not so sure that he’d have really been better in Pittsburgh’s offense or if he offers so much more right now. Chicago at least offered him some longevity, which none of Pittsburgh’s starters had. As for winning over teammates…well, it seems to me that, without knowing him, Fields is genuine and hard working player. However, I do remember reports of players being frustrated with him on the field for his mistakes there. Perhaps their respect for him prevented such (supposed) malcontent from becoming more high profile, which also would say something positive, in a roundabout way, about Fields’ impression on others.
As for your prediction…I think I agree with that.
It’s an insult to Pittsburgh’s QBs as much as anything, but I also have no clear sense that Getsy did anything to put Fields in a position to succeed. I’m amazed that he got another OC job right away (although not as amazed as I am that Telesco immediately got another GM job). Fields has some pretty significant flaws, but as I said before in comparison to Pittsburgh’s recent QBs, at least his strengths are actually strong.
I can see that argument. I’m not sure what elite trait Pickett could hypothetically bring to the table in terms of draft profile-awareness, perhaps? Awareness doesn’t benefit you much in a bad offense, though. I dunno.
The issue with Fields is that that strength is so subject to sustaining injury, and his weaknesses are so extreme in comparison. Of course, I’m not saying that you’re dismissing this, but it’s enough for me to keep from endorsing him completely.
Really, at this point, I don’t see why Pittsburgh didn’t just keep Rudolph as the presumptive starter or to compete with these guys. Sure, you have two quarterbacks who (in theory) can run similar plays, but both also struggle with fundamentally simple concepts that whatever upside they share offensively ultimately evens you out with the associated limitations. And, while at low cost, you had to go out and acquire these guys from the outside. Basically, I’m saying this: why bother remaking an offense for what will ultimately be a similar outcome-and still leave you searching for a new franchise starter at the end of it?
I do see your point, to a large degree, and ultimately don’t think that there’s a huge gulf in the end results of either of our points of view (or that either of our valuations are very off). I think that we all expected a little more, as low as our respective expectations may have been.
I don’t think Rudolph is a starting caliber QB, and the Steelers seem to agree after years of having him in the building. I personally never liked the Pickett pick. It took him five college seasons to be very good, and even then it was ACC football. No great physical traits either. I think they fell for the Pittsburgh narrative.
Telasco put together pretty good rosters. Even look at ESPNs current top 100 players. There are several chargers on there. The problem with telasco was the HC hire which wasn’t even his call. I think Getsy was handcuffed in Chi. I’m actually more surprised Eberflus even kept his job. I just don’t think he’s a good Hc and I have always thought he was the problem in Chi not fields nor Getsy.
Take a look through Telesco’s last bunch of draft classes. Maybe three definitively above average players drafted in the last half dozen drafts. Maybe another three starting caliber players. And he left them with arguably the worst cap situation in football.
Maybe GMs do too much. As the raiders GM he is not in charge of the cap. They have someone whose only job is the cap. I don’t think telasco is as bad as you and the media make him out to be. Chargers every year are supposed to compete with the chiefs. Talent wise they’ve been there. hCs have been terrible. That’s why they went out and got Harbaugh.
“Chargers every year are supposed to compete with the chiefs.” They made the playoffs three times in 11 years under Telesco. They’ve always had some strong high end talent to keep people hyped, but they’ve never had deep rosters. And yes, cap is ultimately the GM’s responsibility, even if the GM has cap specialists. The cap specialist isn’t handing out contracts. And bad drafting is a part of the cap problem. If you’re constantly whiffing after the first round, you’re going to have to spend a lot more in free agency just to have starters.
I agree with Ak. 96% of the Bears playbook was geared towards Fields and they still couldn’t win sh%^ when it mattered.
Well I never heard any of Wilson’s former team mates say anything nice about him.
…
Shocker, people don’t like Russ again. Figures.
Perhaps Russ could steal fans from Aaron Rodgers…oh wait!…nobody likes him either.
I dunno, he and Marshawn Lynch seem to get along really well. Adams does as well. And Bakhtiari. I even remember Equanimous St. Brown doing a random interview one time where he talked about how Rodgers was friendly with all of the receivers. It seems like a lot of people who actually played with Rodgers seemed to like him. It’s everyone who writes about him who doesn’t seem to (Florio…).
Wilson, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have such a strong list of positive interviews. I don’t know him, so I can’t say how indicative that is of his character, but I haven’t seen any.
I think players generally only care about teammates’ personalities as they relate to the team and game. I’ve read the same accounts about Rodgers. Do they really care about his off field views? Seems unlikely
Wilson on the other hand seems to get called aloof quite a bit. Beyond whatever was true in Denver about having his own office and entourage, you get the sense that he wasn’t the kind that is a chatty, team-oriented kind of guy
But it’s like anything else. Lots of gossip and a lot of it coming from people with axes to grind. Have to take all of it with a grain of salt
I agree, 100%.
Fields must really be something in practice as he hasn’t shown much more than what he was in Chicago in preseason games. Then again, neither did Wilson
I get that all three of their QB’s are better than Pickett ever was and that’s great. But I don’t remember ever watching a preseason and coming out of it with no inkling as to how this team will do. Whether it was holding guys out or working with different player combos, the games were more like watching scrimmages
Guess we’ll know everything soon enough. Says a lot about Steelers fans who look at one Wilson drive against the Lions 2nd team defense as a sign of hope, me included.
But after the Canada-Pickett era, it can’t be worse
Did it ever make sense to have both of these washouts on the roster at the same time?
Yes they got one without knowing they could have the other
Safety valve signings. If one is washed or the other incompetent, you’d have a fall-back option. Trouble is, what if they’re equally average?
I had to chuckle in reading that the Titans traded the “other top QB” in Pickett’s class, Malik Willis, to the Packers today
If nothing else, it means Mason Rudolph has impressed enough to ascend to the number 2. Wouldn’t it be something if somehow, he takes over and leads the Titans into the….
Naw. Can’t happen….
Tomlin isn’t naming a starter because why should he tip his hat so early for week 1? It will be Wilson. Fields was lucky to get a QB2 spot there, no other team wanted him.
Loved Madden’s column in today’s Trib
There was never a QB competition here. Just something generated by the ESPN talking heads all spring and summer
This is the absolute worst reporting. This article claims Wilson led a TD drive against the Lions and Fields did not. Absolute BS. The TD drive Wilson led came off a 32 yard TD run that he handed off to Cordarelle Patterson.
Meanwhile, Fields threw a 27 yard pass over the middle of the field to put the Steelers on the 2 yard, and handed the ball off to Perine who ran it in for 2 yards.
Both Fields and Wilson led scoring drives off of rushing TDs and Fields arguably did way more to put the steelers in position to score on his drive with a 27 yard pass over the middle to put them at first and goal on the 2 yard line.
Wilson merely handed the ball off to Patterson who ran it 32 yards in for a score. Fields contributed more on his scoring drive than Wilson.