The Pittsburgh Steelers acquired QB Russell Wilson in addition to QB Justin Fields this offseason, but Fields may not be anything more than insurance and a good backup option for the Steelers. In his mailbag for The Athletic, Mark Kaboly said that Wilson will start the entire 2024 season unless he gets hurt.
“The only way he comes out is if he gets injured,” he wrote. “Bank it.”
Kaboly also said previously he doesn’t think the Steelers will deploy any specialty packages for Fields, and he followed up on that in his mailbag.
“No. Maybe you can see red zone stuff, but Wilson was good in the red zone last year. I don’t see him getting any playing time, and that includes kickoffs,” Kaboly replied when asked about Fields having his own packages.
I think it’s hard to make any definitive declarations about whether Fields will play or not until we see this team actually hit the field for OTAs and mandatory minicamp. While they aren’t going to tip their hand too much, if they’re running packages for Fields, they’ll at least test it out in a practice setting. That being said, it still wouldn’t surprise me if they didn’t do anything special and just simply view Fields as a reliable backup who can push Wilson in camp to be the best version of himself.
I’ve written this before but given that the Steelers only gave up a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick for Fields, the opportunity cost for making the trade was worth it even if he doesn’t see the field. There have been rumors that the team could extend him to a deal beyond 2024 this offseason, and if that does end up being the case, it would be understandable if the Steelers don’t want to needlessly put him on the field to risk injury.
Fields is incredibly athletic and changes the dynamic of the offense with his athleticism. But rotating between two quarterbacks isn’t something that you see happen all that often in the NFL, and Wilson, although older, is capable of moving a bit himself. There are so many factors at play here, which is again why I find it hard to believe any major declarative statements being made over what will or won’t happen next season. But with Wilson in “pole position” to win the job, it wouldn’t be a shock if he won it and then held onto it all season, with Fields not getting his chance quite yet.
