With quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields now members of the Pittsburgh Steelers, excitement is high as the Steelers completely revamped their quarterback room from last season to this season.
So far, the two are saying all the right things, competing and growing as quarterbacks and as leaders, but for former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, there is doubt that both can coexist in the Steel City in 2024.
“Yeah, I’m not sure about the coexisting. I’m really not. And here’s why. Russell Wilson has no financial anchor with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And so if it’s not going well for him, not only they not have to play him, but they could cut him. And then from the standpoint of Justin Fields fifth-year option not picked up, like he’s playing for the next contract,” Hasselbeck said, according to NFL Live on ESPN. “So you have a situation in Pittsburgh where both guys are basically playing for the next contract. And so if you are not playing, you’re not playing for your next contract. And that’s where I think this whole thing gets really tricky.”
Hasselbeck raises a good point that Wilson, whom the Steelers signed to a one-year deal in free agency, doesn’t have a financial anchor to Pittsburgh. Nor does the franchise have a financial tie to him, outside of the veteran minimum contract that he received in mid-March.
The same goes for Fields. The Steelers traded a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to the acquire him. Later, they declined Fields’ fifth-year option, putting him into the final year of his rookie contract, meaning the Steelers now have two former starting quarterbacks on the roster who are trying to prove they are still NFL starters and have financial incentive to see the field and play well.
Two dogs, one bone, as head coach Mike Tomlin likes to say.
The Steelers have been all about adding competition this offseason at all areas of the roster, but none more so than at quarterback, where they have had issues the last few seasons. It’s going to take quite a bit from the coaching staff, and particularly Tomlin, to balance that dynamic in the quarterback room, ensuring everyone is pulling in the same direction to try and win games while checking ego at the door.
“Look, Mike Tomlin is maybe as equipped as any coach to handle that dynamic of a young, super talented guy that is trying to prove he stills a starter in the league, and then an older, super accomplished, Super Bowl-winning quarterback to blend that together,” Hasselbeck said. “Mike Tomlin is maybe one of the few guys that could handle that. All that to say it’s gonna take a massive amount of maturity and unselfishness by both guys if they are gonna coexist, because what they want is the next contract and they’re only getting it if they’re the guy that’s playing.”
Tomlin has been a master at handling egos, getting players to focus on the field and staying on the straight and narrow, getting the most out of them during their time in the Black and Gold. This will be a new challenge for Tomlin though. He has some experience dealing with a QB competition in the past, particularly the Mitch Trubisky/Mason Rudolph/Kenny Pickett battle in 2022, but this is 100x times that.
Wilson is a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, is likely going to be a Hall of Famer, and is on his third stop in the NFL looking to prove that his last two seasons in Denver weren’t about him falling off at the position. Whereas with Fields, he’s still a relatively young quarterback — one of the more dynamic ones in the league — who finished the 2023 season strong and believes he should be a starter and viewed as a franchise guy, but circumstances out of his control in Chicago led to his exit.
These things have a weird way of taking care of themselves on the field and in the locker room, but it will be a delicate balance for Tomlin and the Steelers to manage. Hasselbeck doesn’t see the two new quarterbacks coexisting, but there has to be some belief put in Tomlin to get the best out of the situation.
Time will tell.
