The Pittsburgh Steelers see untapped potential in Justin Fields, a fourth-year quarterback with a 10-28 record in three years as a starter with the Chicago Bears. They can afford to because they’re not paying much for him, but they still want to nurture that. And for head coach Mike Tomlin, part of that maturation process is allowing him to learn from Russell Wilson.
While Tomlin allows the possibility of Fields competing for the starting job when the time comes, he’s anointed Wilson the effective offseason starter. He wants Wilson to take the reins and lead the offseason process, showing Fields how to be a professional.
“I’m excited about him getting an opportunity to be exposed to a veteran leader like Russell”, Tomlin said on SiriusXM Radio earlier this week. “We’re gonna roll the ball out at some point and give him an opportunity to compete, but I’m just excited about having the talent, both experience in Russell and upside in Justin [Fields] on our roster as we lean in on 2024”.
Fields didn’t really have that in Chicago, a significant veteran presence to show him the way. They already ditched Mitch Trubisky by then, though they started out with Andy Dalton. Dalton suffered an injury in Week 2 that season, thrusting Fields into the starting lineup.
And even then, Dalton spent just one year in Chicago, replaced by Trevor Siemian and Nathan Peterman. Learning from a player like Wilson, a Super Bowl champion and potential Hall of Famer, is another level entirely. Probably why Tomlin keeps beating the same drum.
“He gets an opportunity to come into a community-like situation and learn from a guy that’s been going it for over a decade”, he said at the annual league meetings. “There’s a lot of meat left on that bone. I’m just excited about working to be a part of extracting it”.
Tomlin also spoke to the team’s website about the reasonable expectation that Fields will “continue to get better”. That’s not often something you say about a player going into his fourth season, though it’s more common for quarterbacks.
You almost have to think that signing Wilson is one of the reasons the Steelers feel confident in developing Fields. They’re taking a blank-slate approach with him, largely overlooking his three-year stint in Chicago.
Of course, the affordability is the only reason they’re taking this approach. They’re not very deep into this thing, so they have the luxury of watching things play out. Given the fact that Fields has somewhat modeled his own game after Wilson’s, the paring just makes sense.
