Russell Wilson faced a challenge from his pole-position spot, but the veteran will hold off Justin Fields. The Steelers will go with the 13th-year passer to open the season, Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reports. The Steelers have since announced it will be Wilson in Week 1.
The Steelers went to some lengths to assure Wilson he would be the starter. This was communicated to the decorated veteran before the Kenny Pickett trade and then after the team acquired Fields. While the latter has made a push that indicates this situation is not resolved from a long-term perspective, Fields will begin his Pittsburgh tenure as a backup.
Fields was believed to have supporters in the building, as the Steelers went about adjusting his footwork from his Bears days. Rather than name a starter before the third preseason game, Mike Tomlin waited until midway through the Steelers’ final week of summer workouts. This does not suggest Wilson will have a firm grip here, despite the early-offseason buzz about this job, but the 35-year-old passer will soon make his 189th career start.
Despite Fields closing the gap, the 25-year-old trade acquisition never emerged as a frontrunner. The Steelers may have been more inclined, after seeing Pickett stumble, to go with a more experienced option early. After trading Pickett, Pittsburgh signed off on a unique arrangement. Wilson and Fields are on low-cost deals that expire at season’s end. The team is not deviating from its policy of not negotiating extensions in-season, and no talks are planned to commence before the campaign. Both passers will head into contract years, and although reports about the Steelers eyeing a post-2024 future with both have come out, this Wilson-Fields setup will almost certainly be a one-and-done situation.
Calling this a “difficult decision,” Tomlin communicated it to both QBs today. This was Wilson’s first time in a quarterback competition since his rookie year, when he beat out Matt Flynn for the Seahawks’ job. The potential Hall of Famer held it for 10 years, but the Seahawks — after Wilson’s first injury-related absence came during a season that brought a step back from his Pro Bowl-level form — dealt his $35MM-per-year contract to the Broncos for an eight-asset package in March 2022. Wilson then signed a $49MM-AAV deal with Denver, going through an infamous tenure with the AFC West franchise.
Wilson’s Broncos run can be classified as a financial disaster, and while Sean Payton made it clear his fit with the off-script maven was poor, the 2023 season went much better for the former third-round pick compared to the shocking 2022 outcome.
Wilson rebounded from his rough season with Nathaniel Hackett, a campaign in which the Broncos allowed the QB to help design the offense and then gave him other perks, by throwing 26 touchdown passes compared to just eight interceptions with Payton at the controls. This still produced a late-season benching — after a behind-the-scenes drama unfolded regarding Wilson’s 2025 guarantee vesting date — but Wilson did show some better form, helping the Broncos to a five-game win streak that moved them into the playoff chase.
Denver took on a record-smashing dead money sum to separate from the embattled quarterback; regardless of offset language, Denver’s cap penalty over the next two years more than doubles any other single-player number. The Steelers swooped in an have the accomplished passer on a one-year, $1.21MM deal. But Wilson, who battled injuries in 2022 to contribute to his stunning regression, missed multiple weeks of training camp with a calf injury and only recently received full clearance. This allowed Fields to catch up a bit, and this situation will be one to monitor early in the season.
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. Fields probably offers more upside at this point, as Wilson will turn 36 in November, but the veteran brings a higher floor.
The Steelers will aim to pair Wilson with a veteran-laden defense, and it remains to be seen if the team will pry Brandon Aiyuk from the 49ers. Though, that scenario appears a longshot right now.
OMG NOBODY SAW THIS COMING IM SO SHOCKED OMG!!!
Like choosing between cancer and AIDS… screwed either way!
How did you come up with that comparison?! Pretty dark buddy geez!…..I would’ve said choosing between Jock itch or when you get super chafed lol
Every time I see Russell or Fields now I’m gonna think of those names…lol
Justin ‘Jock Itch’ Fields and Russel ‘Super Chafed’ Wilson haha
I do like yours better.
I would of made a comparison of highwaymenace to an (0)
Edgy
Monkeypox or type 2 diabetes
Oh boy, get with the times, it’s M-Pox!!!
A sh#t sandwich or a turd pizza
An astute observation ♂️
Tomlin would make a great politician
While Mike Tomlin LOVES Justin Fields and thinks a mobile QB is the way to win big in the NFL, this was 100% always the plan. The last few years Tomlin teams have been competitive and won simply by winning the turnover battle. That’s exactly the type of QB Wilson is and who was going to start the year out as QB. That doesn’t mean Fields isn’t starting by the end of the season or in 2025 either.
Well, they DID basically told him the job was his to get him there. Fields popped up later and he was a bargain too. It’ll sure be an interesting year.
What’s the over-under on games before they switch to Fields? My guess is game six (if not sooner).
I don’t think Fields is much of an upgrade, really. And although you couldn’t make any judgment at all based on that beyond-forgettable exhibition season, you have to wonder if they have enough weapons
To me, the O-line is still a work in progress, as well
True. When you have two competing starters, you may as well have none.
Unless it’s Montana and Young, you’re right. Time will tell here
I said before that the way the Steelers conducted preseason games makes any prognostication from any talking head a joke
Literally no way to tell
But it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re 9-8
Montana was clearly the number one in that relationship, followed by Young. In Pittsburgh, it’s flipping a coin and seeing if either wins out.
Good luck-ha-might win 6 games.
Nah, if fields was QB theyd be lucky to win 5. Russ just needs to not turn the ball over and theyll win 8 games if everyone stays healthy.
Broncos, Raiders, Giants, Commanders, are pretty winnable games. Jets is toss up. So is Chargers.
Theyll probably split division games winning at home. esp since Browns and Bengals come to Pitt towards end of season and theyd love to play spoiler for playoff hopefuls.
Let it happen – it very well could with the schedule. They’ve been marginal for so long it needs to get worse to get better and that’s how you get a top young QB if the cards play in one’s favor. They played so many bad and/or backup QBs last year and were 7-2 in one score games. History has shown that’s not a sustainable way to win year in and year out.
Wilson was better last year than any of the QBs Pittsburgh has had the last couple of years, and they still haven’t finished below .500.
What’s Wilson’s catchphrase for the season?
Ayy Steelattle.
So the Steelers traded out 3 mediocre QB’s for 2 this offseason?
They wanted credit for adding “subtraction by subtraction” to the NFL lexicon.
Wilson was probably assured first crack at the starting job when he went to Pittsburgh for less money than most starting punters are making. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Fields still ends up starting the most games for them.
Fans will be chanting Fields’ name by week 3…
You mean Justin jock itch fields!
And then Wilson again by week 6
Not wrong lol
Who knows. But…
I’d guess the most likely scenario is a repeat of 2022 when they handed Mitch the job and a month or so into the season a combination of injuries and/or ineffectiveness, they had to turn to a backup who wasn’t given enough work and fell short.
Tomlin found a way to get over .500 with a person named Duck who works at Costco now (probably) so I won’t say he can’t, but…
Duck Hodges is now a real estate agent and the long-time boyfriend of Lainey Wilson–who is both a country music star and smoking hot. NFL or not–Duck is winning at life.
There are people here who take this all way too seriously. Ok pal, relax. I’m sure 66 was just throwing in some humor
I know it was a joke. It struck me as funny that of all fringe QB’s you could poke fun of for their post-NFL careers, Duck Hodges seems to have stepped way up rather than down. I wanted to let 66 know Duck is doing just fine.
Ok. Understandable. Thanks
Good for him.
The joke isn’t to punch down at Duck, it’s to point out that Tomlin has even won with a rookie UFA literal camp arm who, in what should now be his theoretical prime, is a realtor and himbo.
Next time I’ll say he works at an Amazon warehouse.
Belichick couldn’t win with Vinny Testaverde, Tomlin won with a guy who opens lock boxes and says “it’s very cozy.”
When you have two it means you don’t have one. It’s between a has been and a never will be. Either way, Kahn is gonna regret shopping in the bargain bin for the most important position on the field. The D is ready to win now, the offense will be bad… really bad.
All PITTS needs is a game managing QB who makes plays when he needs to and doesn’t take bad sacks or turn the ball over (here’s looking at Fields). It’s a well rounded team who played alot of close games and won them last year with sub par QB play but greatvD and ST. Wilson fits this bill perfectly this season, but he isn’t the long term answer for them.
I’m not quite as optimistic but I agree with you
I think Wilson will be fine but with the caveat that he’s still behind an O-line that breaks down too often (anyone else concerned about Broderick Jones after this preseason?) and they still only have Pickens on the outside…and he’s going to be double teamed.
I’ve wanted to like Freiermuth but he’s nowhere near the stud Heath was
And to think they could have scooped up Clifford, the future HOF’er GB so foolishly cut loose yesterday.
that dude gonna get laid by gabriel union in celebraton tonite
Looks like I won’t be collecting on the bet I made that they would start someone from the Pirates bullpen 🙁
If they’re going with Wilson because they assured him the job, I understand it. You want players to know you’ll keep your word. Man, it’s a terrible decision for their W/L record, though.
One guy is young, he can create with his legs, and he actually has room to develop.
The other is Wilson. He won’t throw many interceptions at least, mostly because he’ll spend half the game laying on the grass.
Rus won a SB and should have won a 2nd. Rus doesn’t turn the ball over. Rus will be fine.
Zach Wilson has more wins with less starts then Justin Fields. What more is needed to be said lol.
Rus was 4 fumbles off from leading the league last year. If you want broken plays and short yardage throws that don’t move the chain, then rus is your guy.
We don’t have to agree on Rus.
I would simply ask if you think Fields is the better QB right now for PIT?
Everyone saw what Pickett did for pit last year, you get the same out of rus at this stage of his career. Fields has legs and more explosive play potential. With the line how it is, fields is your better option. We had a top 8 o line last year in Denver and rus still led the league in forced sacks, how do you think it’ll fare with the line pit’s throwing out now
Yeah I understand your point, Fields has the ability to escape and behind that o-line the qb is going to need to escape. I think Fields is the guy later in the season but it’s Russel’s job to lose.
I think we see some packages for Fields and once the fans starts seeing the explosiveness and (if he’s successful) we will see a QB change. Rus is going to be motivated because its his last chance. I’m not a PIT fan but it would be nice to see the team finally get some offense going. Its the toughest division in football.
Steelers Nation, let’s ride
You heard it here first … Steelers will be in the SB, and not just watching. Tomlin will motivate either QB, but especially Russ.