Organized Team Activities are in full swing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and with the team back on the practice field with a number of new faces, the debate regarding the quarterback position and who should be the starter has turned into a raging inferno once again.
Will it be Russell Wilson? Should it be Justin Fields? Who gives them the best chance to win weekly? Who is the better quarterback, period?
Turn on any sports talk show, whether TV or radio, and that’s likely what you’re going to hear at some point.
Sides have been taken, flags planted. It’s already tiresome.
But former Steelers’ running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis took a different angle. During an appearance on The Jim Rome Show on SiriusXM Thursday, Bettis stated that regardless of who the starting quarterback is, Wilson and Fields are creating an incredible, competitive landscape for the Steelers that will only make the team better in the end.
“I believe he’s [Wilson] a possibility. You got two quarterbacks. I think Justin Fields is a possible solution as well, I think. But the true benefit is that you got two quarterbacks who desperately want to show that they are more than capable of getting the job done, which means you’re gonna get an incredible, competitive landscape at the quarterback position,” Bettis said of the QB situation for the Steelers, according to audio via SiriusXM. “The problem with the Steelers the last few years has been the lack of high-level quarterback play. Well, now what you have guaranteed yourself is that no matter who wins this job, they’re gonna be the best versions of themselves, which means the Steelers are gonna get the best version of a quarterback that they could possibly get.
“…So I just think that’s the benefit of all of this. And the guy who wins ultimately could be the long term solution as well.”
Earlier in the offseason, Bettis took a hard stance for Wilson, stating during an appearance on the 93.7 The Fan’s Joe Show with Joe Starkey that Wilson is “going to be special” for the Steelers. He’s a big believer in Wilson, who has the resume to put him in the Hall of Fame someday.
But on Thursday, Bettis hedged a bit while praising both quarterbacks. That’s certainly fine to do.
His messaging was spot-on, though.
There’s the saying that if you have two quarterbacks, you actually don’t have any. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with the Steelers. They have two hungry quarterbacks who want to prove they are still starters in this league, one with a Hall of Fame resume, and another who is arguably one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in football, period.
Wilson is coming off of a tough tenure in Denver that saw him get released this offseason, leading to an $80-plus million dead cap hit for the Broncos. They ate that dead cap hit just to not have to deal with Wilson, which says quite a bit. That’ll create a chip for Wilson though, which the Steelers should benefit from in 2024.
Fields started to turn the corner down the stretch last season, but the Bears landed the No. 1 pick thanks to a trade with Carolina ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft, so it made sense for Chicago to move on from Fields and draft QB Caleb Williams.
Both quarterbacks want to play and show the league they are still starters, but you can only play one QB at a time. While many believe there won’t be a QB competition, the two aren’t treating it like that. They’re going to push each other, create a good, healthy, competitive QB environment, and that environment is only going to help make the Steelers better as a whole.
The Steelers should embrace that. The quarterbacks, to their credit, seem to have embraced the competition already.
