The Pittsburgh Steelers brought in both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields to their quarterback room this offseason, and with Wilson being in “pole position” to start, the idea of Fields being used in a special package has been speculated for the Steelers. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that Fields would likely get work in some sort of goal-line role, but offensive coordinator Arthur Smith isn’t ready to talk about a package for Fields.
In an interview with Missi Matthews of Steelers.com, Smith was asked about a package for Fields, but said it’s “too early” to think about that.
“Both those guys, they’re playing quarterback, they’re out here competing. We know where we’re at in the part of the year, we’re playing football in shorts,” Smith said. “We’re trying to improve and getting to know everybody and getting themselves, getting the chemistry with everyone else on the offense. It will be a fun time in Latrobe, watching those guys compete.”
The most interesting part of that answer was Smith talking about the two of them competing multiple times. It seems as if Fields is going to get a fair shake to win the starting job, even with Wilson getting first-team reps in OTAs. With the team’s mandatory minicamp this week, it’s going to be interesting to see how things shake out with the division of reps between Fields and Wilson. If Fields can impress, he could pass Wilson in the race and win the job.
I’m sure Smith has thought about ways to deploy Fields if he isn’t the starting quarterback, but in a setting where there’s minimal contact and it’s football in shorts, as Smith put it, it’s hard to really get a feel for how things could work, especially with the competition still open. If the Steelers openly admitted right now that there would be a package for Fields, they’d essentially be telling him he has no chance to win the starting job and is going to be a backup. So while I’m sure it’s something that Smith and the offensive staff have thought about, it’s nothing they’re going to admit publicly.
It would also be a game-planning disadvantage to admit what they’re going to do freely, so Smith’s answer really comes as little surprise. We’ll get more of an idea of what the team is planning for Fields when training camp begins in late July, and we’ll see then just how real the competition is between Fields and Wilson as well.
