Even as attention focuses on the NFL draft, there are still plenty of eyes on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback situation. Will Russell Wilson hold on to his “pole position” as head coach Mike Tomlin calls it? Or will Justin Fields step up in a new environment and force the Steelers to put him on the field right away?
ESPN’s Louis Riddick is backing Fields. He joined the Fan Morning Show on 93.7 The Fan Friday morning to talk all things Steelers. One of the major topics was the quarterback situation in Pittsburgh.
“Look, as much as I respect Russ, I don’t think it’s a sure-fire lock that he is the starter either,” Riddick said. “That he is going to all of a sudden be the missing, Russ isn’t the missing link in Pittsburgh… Now it’s Justin and Russ, and they get to go at it. And I’ll tell you what, this is a great situation for Justin Fields, a great situation. And I know where I’m putting my money when the dust settles. Because talk about a raw deal, okay, Justin Fields got a raw deal in Chicago.”
The Steelers brought Wilson in as the much-needed veteran with experience winning. No one in the 2023 quarterback room had a career that could even come close to Wilson’s. He’s won a Super Bowl, played in a second, and has thrown for 334 touchdowns so far. Even though the Steelers had two former first-round picks in the locker room, no one even looked to be remotely on a career trajectory near Wilson.
The problem is that Wilson is 35 years old and has been on an overall downward trajectory in his career. He did rebound in 2023 from an abysmal 2022, but it’s still not up to the standard of his prime in Seattle.
Perhaps that’s a big reason why Riddick is optimistic about Fields. He represents potential while Wilson represents experience. The problem for Riddick is that while Wilson is a veteran, he’s not on the same level as Tom Brady or Peyton Manning were when they switched teams late in their careers. So Riddick doesn’t expect anywhere near the same results in Pittsburgh for Wilson.
So why would Riddick expect Fields to win the starting job for the Steelers? He looks at what the Bears did early in Fields’ career versus how they are prepping for QB Caleb Williams, the presumed first overall pick.
“I think Caleb Williams has the higher ceiling,” Riddick said. “But that still doesn’t mean that Justin Fields was not put in some very, very tough situations in Chicago. And even that being said, as things started to kind of settle down in Chicago, he started to play better. He started to look pretty good.”
Fields did show progression through his first three seasons in the NFL. His completion percentage improved year after year, and in 2023, he had his lowest interception percentage at 2.4 percent. He also averaged his highest yards per game in 2023 as well.
That being said, Fields is far away from looking like a franchise quarterback statistically. However, Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith will work hard to put him in the best situations to succeed. Smith loves utilizing play-action and taking deep shots, both things that Fields has shown an ability to do. Smith also will move his quarterbacks around and even let them take off when the opportunity presents itself. Fields can and will absolutely punish defenses with his legs.
So Fields will need to demonstrate that his athletic ability will translate to good quarterback play during offseason activities and preseason. If he does, then Riddick will more likely than not be correct. Former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum believes that the Steelers can be quite successful with Fields at quarterback as well. It will certainly be interesting to see what happens this summer.
