The Pittsburgh Steelers traded for quarterback Justin Fields from the Chicago Bears last week, a move that gives the Steelers a reliable backup with some upside to potentially be more. But the Steelers have reportedly made it clear that Russell Wilson will be the starter, and it’s led former NFL quarterback Cam Newton to question whether or not Fields is truly in a better situation in Pittsburgh. On his Fourth & 1 podcast, Newton advocated for Caleb Williams to “pull an Eli Manning” and demand the Bears don’t draft him, and then talked about Fields’ situation.
“Justin Fields is finding out firsthand that this is a business. Unfortunately hasn’t been in his favor. It wasn’t up to him to get traded. Like, it was a collision course. It was about to be a trainwreck. Hell, his experience there was a trainwreck,” Newton said. “You really only got two to potentially three years to show you’re good. Because the NFL has changed. We’re not allowing players to develop anymore.”
Later in the show, Omari Collins, Newton’s co-host, said he thinks Fields ended up in a better spot, to which Newton replied, “Is he though?” He then expanded that Fields is in a greatly reduced role and may not get a chance behind Russell Wilson.
“You went from a franchise quarterback to a package guy,” Newton said. “If Russell Wilson is the starter for 18 weeks and they go to the playoffs,” Newton said before Collins added, “lock that deal in.”
Ultimately, Newton doesn’t think that Fields will get a chance behind Wilson since the Steelers have already said he’s the starter. The idea that he’s not in a better situation, though, is a little tougher to argue. If he did stay in Chicago, he would’ve been stuck behind a rookie in Caleb Williams, who would all of a sudden become the future at quarterback, with Fields an afterthought behind him. In Pittsburgh, while he may be a backup and only a “package guy,” at least he’s behind someone in Wilson, who’s 35 and on a one-year deal. While Fields may not get a legitimate shot in Pittsburgh, the odds are a lot higher than had he stayed in Chicago.
I guess you could make the argument that Fields would be better off somewhere like Las Vegas, who signed Gardner Minshew II this offseason, but there wasn’t a huge market for Fields. While he may not have wanted to get traded, it wasn’t as if there were teams blowing up Chicago’s phone to try and get him. The Steelers were reportedly his preferred destination, and the Bears did right by him by turning down a better offer to send him to Pittsburgh. But the fact that Fields went for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2025 shows that there just wasn’t a lot of interest around the league.
The NFL is a business for sure, and Fields didn’t get a ton of time to prove himself, sent out of Chicago after two seasons as the full-time starter, but I don’t agree that he’d be better off elsewhere. He’s behind an older quarterback now that he can learn from and potentially take over from, or sit and develop and look to become a starter elsewhere or remain a solid backup for the Steelers. I understand Newton’s point and that Fields may not have had a lot of time to prove himself after being anointed as a franchise guy in Chicago, but he’ll certainly have an opportunity to revive his career in Pittsburgh, even if it’s not as a franchise guy.
