The quarterback situation in Pittsburgh has gotten a lot of media attention since the first week of free agency in March when the Steelers added both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields while trading Kenny Pickett. It is being framed as a competition because it would be doing Fields a disservice to give him nothing to work toward, but at the same time Mike Tomlin gave Wilson “pole position” designation enteringthroughout OTAs and training camp.
Tom Pelissero joined The Rich Eisen Show on Friday and had some strong comments about the nature of the quarterback competition, indicating that it is very much Wilson’s job to lose.
“They’re putting everything that they have behind Russell Wilson,” Pelissero said in a clip of the segment posted on YouTube by The Rich Eisen Show. “They want Russ to know [and] they want the locker room to know that this is the guy.
“We also know that if Russ plays like he did at times last year, and certainly like he did in 2022, that it’s gonna be really complicated for him to maintain that job for the entire season.”
Reflecting on the circumstances that led to Pickett being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles, Pelissero’s comments make a lot of sense. Reports indicated that Pickett felt misled about the nature of the quarterback competition.
Wilson is fighting for his spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and has made several comments this offseason about winning more Super Bowls as part of his five-year plan. Those are not the words of a quarterback who would join a team for the veteran minimum contract of $1.21 million without some sort of strong indication that he would be the starter.
And while Fields has a high ceiling, he is nowhere close to hitting it and is much more of an athlete who happens to be playing quarterback at this point in his career. He certainly doesn’t deserve an edge over what Pickett would have been given in the competition, and it would be reasonable to assume the same message was given to Fields.
That being said, Fields made it clear he did not come to Pittsburgh to sit on the bench all year. He very much intends to compete for a job. He may not get another starting opportunity if he fails to wrest away some starts from Wilson in 2024. He would be entering free agency next offseason with a lackluster three-year stint as the starter in Chicago and then a gap year in Pittsburgh. His NFL future depends on it to a certain extent.
Pelissero went on to say that he thinks Wilson has a good chance of being successful in Pittsburgh.
“It seems to be the type of situation with Arthur Smith being the offensive coordinator that is best suited for what Russ does, which is when he’s been at his best, they’ve been able to run the football, they play really good defense, and then you get these long play-action, vertical passing game-type plays,” Pelissero said. “It’s not the rhythm passing game that Nathaniel Hackett or Sean Payton was trying to run with him.
“So if there’s anywhere that Russell Wilson can succeed, it’s in this offense.”
Wilson’s best stretch of success came early in his career when he had the Legion of Boom defense in Seattle paired with a strong rushing attack powered by Marshawn Lynch. It isn’t a one-to-one comparison between the two, but the Steelers do figure to be among the top defenses in the league and among the top rushing attacks in the league in 2024.
I agree with Pelissero. If there is one place Wilson could have come for a rebound, the Steelers are that team.
