Shortly after trading third-year quarterback Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles, it seemed more and more likely that the Pittsburgh Steelers would find themselves in the market for Chicago’s Justin Fields.
One day later, that’s exactly what happened as the Steelers made a trade with the Bears, landing Fields to be the backup to veteran Russell Wilson, who had signed in free agency to a one-year deal.
To acquire Fields, all the Steelers gave up was a 2025 conditional sixth-round pick that can become a fourth based on playing time. That alone has the move being widely applauded, including from former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum.
Appearing on Get Up Friday morning on ESPN, Tannenbaum called the Fields trade to the Steelers the best move of the offseason.
“By far, to me, the best move in the NFL in this offseason is Justin Fields for a conditional pick. He’s 25 years old and he’s thrown 40 touchdowns. In a month, all these teams are gonna take a crapshoot on quarterbacks,” Tannenbaum said of Fields, according to video via ESPN on YouTube. “This is a guy, look, there’s some flaws. He has to clean up his sacks. I understand that.
“But he has high character. He had absolutely nothing to work with. And to me, to get with Mike Tomlin and that defense, I think that is by far the best move in the NFL and I expect him to be there a long time and to beat out Russell Wilson this year, be their starting quarterback.”
The Steelers and GM Omar Khan getting Fields for a conditional sixth-round pick next year is an absolute heist. The Khan Artist certainly struck, there is no denying that.
Fields remains an outstanding talent at the quarterback position, one who brings all the tools a team wants to the table in today’s NFL at the most important position in sports. But he still has a lot of growth and development to go.
The Steelers seem poised to give him that time to grow and develop behind Wilson, especially because they see Fields as the quarterback of the future in the Steel City.
Though he’s going to be a backup at least early in his tenure in Pittsburgh, that doesn’t take anything away from the move for Fields from the Steelers’ perspective. It was a home run trade, one that hopefully pays off in a major way for the Steelers long-term.
