Russell Wilson won the Steelers’ starting job after the preseason, but his return trip to Denver may feature street clothes or another full uniform and no game action.
Mike Tomlin is preparing for Justin Fields to start against the Broncos, The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo notes. The 18th-year Steelers HC said Wilson, who aggravated his training camp calf injury last week, does not have a chance to practice fully until at least Thursday, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac. Wilson is set to be limited Wednesday, which does keep the door open to a return.
Wilson is feeling better, Tomlin added, but the Steelers — having seen the free agent signing’s calf problem recur — are again leaning toward exercising caution. Wilson still suited up for Pittsburgh’s opener in Atlanta, and given his recent past, he will undoubtedly push to play in Week 2. The Broncos released Wilson after two years, doing so after demoting him — due largely to an injury guarantee in his contract — in Week 17.
Although no Steelers touchdowns occurred in their 18-10 win over the Falcons, Fields completed 17 of 23 passes for 156 yards while rushing for 57. Fields closed the gap on Wilson, despite frequent pole position-related classifications of the Steelers’ QB race this offseason, after the latter’s injury during training camp and would stand to help his case to be Pittsburgh’s full-time starter by playing well in Week 2.
The trade acquisition has not usurped Wilson just yet, Tomlin added (via ESPN.com’s Brooke Pryor), though SI.com’s Albert Breer indicates plenty in the building are excited to see how Fields builds on his first start. This comes after a report that pointed to Fields having significant support in the QB battle from sources at the Steelers’ facility.
More Fields reps may well hurt Wilson’s cause, and although rumors about the Steelers being interested in post-2024 partnerships with both passers, this will probably be the only season Wilson and Fields are teammates. The Broncos benched Wilson largely due to contract concerns; he has never been parked strictly for performance issues. Wilson, 35, had never missed a game until 2021; a finger injury sidelined him then. In 2022, however, Wilson gave way to Brett Rypien twice — because of a hamstring injury and a concussion.
The Broncos moved on via their Bo Nix draft choice at No. 12 overall. Wilson still counts a record-smashing $53MM in dead money on Denver’s payroll, with more than $30MM in Wilson funds — from a post-June 1 cut — to be on the Broncos’ 2025 cap sheet.
Denver fumbled all of that so bad, but with what QBs are getting paid now, it’s bound to happen again to someone in the future. Deshaun Watson and Kirk Cousins look like the next best bets for cap inferno cuts.
I get the feeling PITTS thinks they’re better off with Fields, to see if he’s worth another contract vs Wilson, who isn’t in the long term plans.
Against Denver in Denver? Yes. Possibly too many distractions for Wilson. But also and for what it’s worth, Fields lit up the stats sheet against the Broncos last year. True it was in Chicago but recalling recent positive memories can’t hurt.
As a long time Bears fan I would love to see Justin succeed in Pittsburgh and get a new contract. Sure, he has some faults in his game.
Those have been pretty well documented. But there’s no doubt, to me anyway that he did not get the best support with the Bears. From poor coaching, coaching changes, poor play calling, poor offensive line support.
I think Fields is the better option….now and the future. For the naysayers after one game,give the offensive line and Fields a few games.
Again there’s a story out of Chicago about a reporter saying the bears rookie QBs short comings were evident in the win over Tennessee…my God it was the kids first game..one game doesn’t make it break a player..this is modern sports journalists shock jock attitude….just like sports talk radio.. especially The Fan 93.7…garbage at it’s best level