Just about everybody has something to say about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback competition. Some have written off Russell Wilson as just being a shell of himself. Some say Justin Fields can’t be a good enough passer to be a starter in the league.
If Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo’s views on Fields’ performance during OTAs and mandatory minicamp hold up, then we will likely see plenty of Wilson under center in Pittsburgh. While Fields certainly is the more dynamic athlete than Wilson at their respective career stages, there’s more to playing quarterback than athleticism. So what does that mean for Fields?
“This is a respite year,” Chicago-area radio personality David Haugh said on the Extra Point of Wednesday’s Mully & Haugh show on 670 The Score. “This is a year of growth and learning if you will. If he plays, something has gone wrong in Pittsburgh. I don’t think he will be playing by design. He’ll be playing because of injury or ineffectiveness.”
Does that mean Fields cannot turn things around in training camp and preseason once pads are on? No, but OTAs and minicamps are supposed to be the easiest atmospheres. So you would hope Fields would shine in those situations, and he’s reportedly been inconsistent.
But a strong training camp and preseason might not even rescue Fields. The Athletic’s Mark Kaboly has even said that it doesn’t matter what Fields does, Wilson is the Steelers’ starting quarterback. Obviously, that’s based on Wilson being perfectly healthy and not falling into the depths of incompetence suddenly.
Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith has talked about how training camp will be different for the quarterback competition. That could simply be coach speak to keep both the media engaged and not cause issues with Fields. Or it could mean that Fields’ performance will be taken into proper consideration this summer.
It feels disingenuous for the Steelers to rubber-stamp Wilson as the starter before either quarterback takes a snap in pads. To say that either quarterback’s performance means absolutely nothing is the wrong way to build a team. Every player needs to be held to a standard to be the starter.
It’s another thing entirely to have expectations, though. It makes sense that people would expect Wilson to perform at a higher level than Fields because Wilson has done that for most of his career. Perhaps that’s what people like Haugh and Kaboly mean.
Then there’s former NFL head coach Jay Gruden. He would start Fields without hesitating due to his physical upside and Smith’s offense. Fields certainly offers explosiveness in the ground game, which would be an additional dimension to the offense. Only time will tell for certain, though.
