The Pittsburgh Steelers’ offense has been pretty stagnant the last three seasons, which is putting it mildly.
The Steelers haven’t scored enough points, have struggled to do some basic things in the passing game and really haven’t stressed defenses much down the field, making it harder and harder to play the style of football that they want: a ground-and-pound attack focused on wearing defenses down.
That’s hard to do when the box is so stacked because there is no real threat of a passing game.
That could change though, were the Steelers to trade for Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields. Fields is a popular name tied to the Steelers this offseason as the Bears hold the No. 1 pick in the draft thanks to a 2023 trade with the Carolina Panthers, though it seems much more media-driven than the Steelers having any sort of interest in the 11th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
For ESPN’s Field Yates, though the fit might not be perfect financially, the physical traits and play style of Fields are a perfect match, one that would provide the Steelers’ offense with a much-needed juice.
Appearing on the Mina Kimes Show podcast Wednesday, Yates made the case for why Fields and the Steelers are a good fit for each other, especially with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith now in Pittsburgh.
“Think about how incongruent the Steelers’ offensive attack is right now. You’ve got an extremely conservative quarterback in Kenny Pickett, who rarely stresses the defense down the field. And you’ve got this duo running backs…. and instead you have a quarterback that basically just like the defense are saying, ‘Fine, if you want to grind us to a nub by going three yards and a cloud of dust with Najee Harris, that’s fine,'” Yates said. “Justin immediately changes the dimensions of running lanes. He actually makes a defense have to defend the field vertically and horizontally because he is a runner and a very gifted vertical passer as well. It’s time for Pittsburgh to put a jolt into this offense.”
In today’s NFL, you need a dynamic quarterback who can provide answers for an offense, whether that’s through the air or with his legs. Look no further than Super Bowl LVIII with Patrick Mahomes and Brock Purdy. Both are very good throwers of the football, and both can make plays out of structure.
Pickett is a mobile quarterback, but he isn’t much of a threat to run the ball and doesn’t stress defenses. Fields would and would create different running lanes within defenses, like Yates points out, especially horizontally. That would open things up for Harris and Jaylen Warren even more, too, and would alleviate stress on the offensive line in the run game as well.
The Steelers haven’t had a quarterback with the skill set and physical traits of Fields since Kordell Stewart. That was a different game back then and the Steelers at the time tried to force Stewart to be more of a pocket passer and a traditional quarterback, rather than letting him lean into his own style.
He had a great season in 1997 with Chan Gailey as offensive coordinator, but after Gailey left the Steelers went back to trying to make Stewart something he wasn’t. The game has changed for the better and now could be a good time for the Steelers to get that dynamic quarterback once again.
“If I’m Pittsburgh, and this is gonna be like an incredibly simple-minded way of thinking about it, but the Steelers haven’t had a quarterback that’s strained a defense for years, right? Like Ben Roethlisberger at the tail end of his career, certainly he had his moments, he had his big games, you know, like certainly he was on occasion excellent, but it’s been probably half a decade since they had consistent scary quarterback play,” Yates said. “…But in a division that features Lamar Jackson, the two-time MVP now, Joe Burrow, who has MVP upside himself, and then Deshaun Watson, who’s obviously a wild card but at his apex has been one of the best players in the entire NFL, you can’t be the team that is so far behind for a singular reason of your quarterback kind of just being average.”
Yates nails it.
Though the Steelers likely would have been right in the AFC North division race with the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns without injuries decimating their defense, it’s quite clear that they have to get better play at the quarterback position.
Veteran Mason Rudolph showed just how good the team could be as currently constructed with consistent quarterback play that provided a downfield passing option. But Rudolph is a pending free agent and though the Steelers want him back, they have stated that Pickett enters the offseason as QB1.
Knowing that, the Steelers will still be very far behind the other three quarterbacks in the division. That’s not a comforting feeling.
It’s time for Pittsburgh to inject a jolt offensively at the QB position. Maybe that’s not Fields, but the general premise is a solid one. Mediocrity isn’t the answer.
