If there is one theme, one word to sum up the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback situation, it’s competition. That’s what general manager Omar Khan said was needed after the 2023 season. It started with signing Russell Wilson, then continued with trading Kenny Pickett and acquiring Justin Fields.
Fields even said after the first day of OTAs on Tuesday that he wanted to be traded to Pittsburgh. That’s how he felt before the Steelers signed Wilson, and it’s how he felt after they traded Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles. The question is why would Fields want to go to a team where he wouldn’t be the clear-cut starter? Is it because there wasn’t such a team interested in him? Or is that he doesn’t mind the competition?
“He’s obviously not afraid of that competition,” Chris Simms said on Wednesday’s episode of Pro Football Talk. “He obviously sees some things about, wait, I can beat this guy out. Or if he slips up at all, I can take the job and never give it up.”
Fields probably does have the mentality that he can win the competition with Wilson. He has to. However, the fact that he wanted to go to Pittsburgh before Wilson even entered the picture has more to do with the Steelers than competition. A big part of that has to do with head coach Mike Tomlin, who Fields said might be the best coach he’s been under.
There’s definitely a healthy amount of respect for Tomlin and the Steelers from Fields’ perspective. There has to be mutual admiration, otherwise, why would the Steelers have traded for Fields? Simms thinks he knows part of what attracted the Steelers to Fields.
“The one thing about Justin Fields,” Simms said, “when you watch him, you feel his passion and you feel he’s going to put his body on the line to win the game. He’s going to do whatever it takes. I guarantee that’s what the Steelers and Mike Tomlin see about him, too.”
Tomlin has repeatedly said he wants to win regardless of what that looks like. So it makes sense he’d be drawn to a quarterback with the same mindset. That approach from Fields could go a long way toward him seeing the field as a starting quarterback in Pittsburgh.
The question is whether Fields is going to have a genuine chance to compete against Wilson early. According to Ray Fittipaldo, there is no open competition this summer. He thinks the Steelers see Wilson as the opening-day starter, not just in the “pole position” this summer.
Tomlin has said that Fields will get a chance to compete with Wilson when the time is right. If Fittipaldo is correct, the Steelers don’t think the time will be right anytime soon.
Don’t count Fields out, though. If he’s willing to put it all on the line to win football games, he’s going to do the same throughout training camp. Even after one day of OTAs, he’s already learning how to approach practice differently thanks to Wilson. If he keeps learning and applying, he’ll be ready to compete sooner than Fittipaldo seems to think.
You can watch the entire discussion below:
