There hasn’t been much news surrounding QB Justin Fields ever since the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired him in a trade with the Chicago Bears at the end of the first week of free agency last month. Part of that is because the Steelers never made him available to the media. Russell Wilson is in “pole position” to be the starting quarterback, and the Steelers haven’t put any of the projected backups up for a press conference, including Fields.
He has made his own headlines, however, hard at work during the offseason. He has posted numerous videos of workouts in the gym on social media with weight and resistance training, and he was also working out with Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick via a social media post by Simeon Kelley of the two together on a practice field recently.
The latest video shows Fields working on his ball placement and accuracy, and the clip is rather impressive. He is using a soccer goal as a bar that he has to clear with a receiver behind it catching the ball. Watch below as he perfectly lofts the ball over the crossbar and drops it into the receivers catch radius. The original post came via Kelley as well, who acts as Fields’ content producer.
Fields has progressed as a passer in the NFL, but his athleticism and deep-ball arm talent are what got him drafted in the first round by the Bears.
Over his three seasons, he has 578 completions on 958 attempts for 6,674 yards and 40 touchdowns. His completion percentage has steadily improved over the course of his NFL career, ending with 61.4-percent last season. He completed 227 passes on 370 attempts for 2,562 yards and 16 touchdowns last season, in addition to his work as a ball carrier on designed and broken-play QB runs.
While Fields is unlikely to begin the 2024 season as the starter, it seems likely that OC Arthur Smith and the Steelers will design some packages to get him on the field. He has too much talent to sit on the bench, and the Steelers need to find out what they have in him as he is entering the final year of his rookie contract.
There has been zero chatter on Fields’ end about the quarterback competition. He is just putting his head down and getting to work. Reports indicated that he chose the Steelers, after all, so he must believe he has some chance to see the field in 2024.
