Pittsburgh Steelers QB Justin Fields emulated his game after the player he’s now competing with in Russell Wilson, and one analyst thinks that Fields could eventually be a Wilson-level player.
Appearing on The Mina Kimes Show, Yahoo Sports analyst Nate Tice said that Fields’ ceiling is becoming Wilson, and the two have “very similar” play styles.
“I do think he played the best ball of his career as a passer last year. I’m understanding of what he is, what his ceiling is. Weird. He’s playing with the quarterback that I think his ceiling is, Russell Wilson. They have very similar play styles, good and bad.”
For what it’s worth, the context of the conversation came during a quarterback draft, where Tice and Kimes alternated drafting quarterbacks. Fields was taken at No. 25 overall, while Wilson went No. 29 in a draft based on a three-year timeline. So the general thought between Tice and Kimes is that Fields and Wilson are toward the bottom of the league when it comes to quarterback play, but it is interesting that Fields could have a ceiling of Wilson.
Wilson was one of the better quarterbacks in the league when he was with the Seattle Seahawks, and he’s a Super Bowl champion. While he’s now 35 years old and will be 36 in November, Fields is just 25 and could conceivably be the quarterback of the future for the Steelers. Both Fields and Wilson are on one-year contracts, and they could look to extend Fields before the season to give them some flexibility on what they want to do with him beyond this season.
Tice didn’t clarify whether he believes Fields’ ceiling is the Wilson of now or prime Wilson, but if you’re throwing it out as his ceiling, my guess would be that it’s prime Wilson. If the Steelers can have that player as a quarterback in the long term, I think they’ll happily take it. It’s also going to help Fields reach that ceiling as he learns from and plays with Wilson himself, and the two of them have seemingly developed a nice relationship early in their tenures with Pittsburgh.
While Fields may not win Pittsburgh’s starting job coming out of camp, it could benefit his career to learn under someone he emulates and has a lot of similarities to in Wilson. Fields’ career to this point hasn’t gone as expected, and learning from a player with a similar play style who’s reached the mountaintop in the NFL with a Super Bowl ring could help Fields get his career back on track, whether it’s in Pittsburgh or elsewhere.
