When this offseason began, fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers were faced with the question of who they wanted to be the team’s next quarterback. Many people wanted either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. GM Omar Khan decided he wanted both, and now the team has their best group of quarterbacks since Ben Roethlisberger retired. While that isn’t saying much when looking at the past few years, it still provides some cause for optimism.
However, there is an old saying about how if you have two quarterbacks, you really don’t have any quarterbacks. The point being, is that one player has to start, but because he has the other player breathing down his neck from the bench, there’s going to be conflict and neither man will be focused on playing their best on the field. While that isn’t necessarily true, it is at least worth noting that some players struggle with that adversity of knowing there’s a player waiting to take their job. If the reports are to be believed, that may have even happened with Kenny Pickett.
All that to say, fans who may be concerned Wilson could get pulled off the field at the first sign of poor play aren’t unjustified in their thinking. Former Steeler and Super Bowl-champion Bryant McFadden spoke on CBS Sports recently about how long of a leash he believed Wilson will have this season.
“I think he’s going to have a nice leash when you talk about leeway for error, right? This is a plus for Pittsburgh because they won ten ball games, got into the playoffs with up and down quarterback play throughout the majority of 2023, and they found a way to win,” McFadden said. “Not to mention some of the other injuries they were dealing with, not just on the offensive side, but on the defensive side, you know, losing key guys.”
The Steelers were struck by a number of key injuries last season, and still managed to win 10 games despite subpar quarterback play.
“When you factor in Russell Wilson just being able to provide a sense of stability at the quarterback position, I think his leash should be lengthy, deserving of what we’ve seen in years past, especially a year ago at the quarterback position,” McFadden said. “So I think Russ understands that, he sees the window of opportunity for him to revitalize his career.”
Indeed, McFadden makes a good point about Russ deserving a long leash considering what the Steelers have had at quarterback these past few years. Not only that, but with Coach Tomlin telling him he’ll be the starter this season, it’s safe to say there won’t be any kind of quarterback controversy, at least to begin the season.
The team has also struggled with finding consistency at quarterback, even in the vacuum of one single season. When Pickett was drafted, the team chose to start the season with Mitch Trubisky and then quickly switched to Pickett when it was clear the Trubisky experiment wasn’t working. Last year, injuries and bad play led to quarterback being a revolving door. Consistency is a big part of the quarterback puzzle.
That shouldn’t preclude the team from putting Fields in if Wilson struggles for an extended period of time, but fans shouldn’t be quick to give up on Wilson. It seems that they’ll be taking McFadden’s advice and giving him a healthy amount of leeway. Hopefully, this season gives Fields an opportunity to grow and learn from Wilson, potentially giving the Steelers a long-term plan if they choose to extend him.
