The Pittsburgh Steelers completely revamped their quarterback room for the 2024 season on the cheap. Russell Wilson cost them just $1.21 million and Justin Fields cost them just a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick. This creates a world of possibilities for the Steelers. With very little invested, they can afford to make a well-informed decision on the QB competition without a large contract influencing it. They can do almost anything—except trade Wilson.
“I was looking at his contract the other day. It’s interesting,” Graziano said on this morning’s episode of ESPN’s Get Up “Russell Wilson actually has a no-trade clause in his Steelers contract, which is bizarre at $1.2 million. I’ve never seen that before, but it gives him some say in it, right?”
In the event that Justin Fields wins the competition, either by Week 1, or at some point before the trade deadline, the Steelers would not be able to turn around and trade Wilson. So in a situation like last year where multiple playoff-caliber teams lost their quarterback, the Steelers would not be able to take advantage of having team control of Wilson to extract future draft value from another team.
Wilson was given “pole position” by Mike Tomlin entering the offseason with the inside track to win the starting job. Nothing thus far has indicated that the nature of the competition has changed. In fact, reports indicate that Wilson has been receiving the majority of the QB1 reps at OTAs. Teammates have raved over Wilson’s leadership and accuracy, but the fact remains that Fields is a decade younger and presents long-term upside that Wilson simply doesn’t have at 35 years old.
Graziano presented a mind-boggling scenario that could play out if Fields ends up winning the competition in training camp.
“I’ve been thinking that if Justin Fields wins the job in the offseason, that the likely scenario is that Russell Wilson would be cut, and they can do that, right? They’re paying him $1.2 million. It’s guaranteed, but people take bigger [cap] hits than that on their budgets and on their cap all the time,” Graziano said. “If they get to the point and Fields is gonna be the starter, Russell can say, ‘Trade me or cut me,’ and then he has some control over where he goes.
“I think there’s a lot of this story to be told. I don’t think it’s at all out of the question that Russell Wilson’s not on the Steelers by the time the season starts.”
Dating back to March after Wilson and Fields joined the Steelers’ roster, Adam Schefter reported a very similar sentiment that he heard from an unnamed NFL exec.
While the Steelers certainly could make this type of move with very little blowback due to the low investment, I would be absolutely floored if it came to pass. Steelers players have been raving about Wilson’s leadership and several of them actually helped recruit the nine-time Pro Bowler to the team in the first place. And even if Fields has potential, he has yet to come anywhere close to realizing it.
Even in what was Fields’ best season in 2023, and among Wilson’s worst, there was no comparison. Wilson had a five percent higher completion percentage, 508 more passing yards, 10 more passing touchdowns, and one fewer interception. The Steelers have assembled too competitive of a roster to roll the dice on Fields’ development, at least in 2024.
