Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback room was dreadful. Yes, QB Mason Rudolph put together a nice string of games to end the season, but overall, the answer at quarterback didn’t seem to be on the roster. This offseason, Steelers general manager Omar Khan decided to overhaul the entire quarterback room by getting rid of QBs Mitchell Trubisky and Kenny Pickett through release and trade, respectively, and not re-signing Rudolph.
To replace them, the Steelers signed QB Russell Wilson and traded for QB Justin Fields. While both Wilson and Fields have had their struggles the past few years, they both are low-risk, high-upside moves. Because of the moves, Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon wrote that he believes the Steelers should not be in a panic over their quarterback situation.
“There’s a not-so-wild chance Russell Wilson puts it back together in a new spot and a similar chance Justin Fields rises to the occasion in a fresh setting,” wrote Gagnon. Altogether, there’s a decent chance the Steelers have their guy on the roster right now.”
While Wilson is older at 35 years old, he has said he wants to play at least five more years and Pittsburgh is open to doing more business with Wilson depending on his play this season. Wilson is coming off a season in which he was benched towards the end, yet he threw for 3,070 yards, 26 touchdowns, and only eight interceptions. Although stats do not tell the whole story, it is notable he consistently put the ball in the end zone which is something the Steelers quarterbacks struggled to do last year.
Fields, on the other hand, is much younger at only 25 years old. Fields has shown flashes of greatness at times, even if his overall play has not been very good. With both Fields and Wilson on the roster, Pittsburgh has two quarterbacks who are capable of making dynamic plays.
Both Wilson and Fields have high ceilings. Although both are only under contract for this season, the Steelers can easily find a way to retain at least one of them for the future if they wish to do so. Although both haven’t been great in the past two years, they have been better than what Pittsburgh has had, and their potential is higher than Pickett or Rudolph.
The Steelers know they need to figure out their quarterback position if they want to compete for Super Bowls, and they hope their moves this offseason do that. We won’t know until September if they will, but right now, there isn’t much panic around Pittsburgh or the NFL about the Steelers quarterback room.
