Since being acquired by the Pittsburgh Steelers in a span of a week, all eyes have been on the quarterbacks and potential battle between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
Though the Steelers have seemingly made it clear that Wilson is the starter — he entered the offseason in the “pole position” and did nothing to lose that spot entering training camp — many believe that there will be a true QB competition in training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
In fact, Pro Football Focus believes that the potential quarterback battle between the two is the biggest training camp battle in the NFL.
“The most high-profile quarterback battle of training camp will take place in the Steel City. The Steelers made two low-risk offseason additions in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, each of whom could lead the offense in 2024,” PFF’s Gordon McGuinness writes. “Wilson will turn 36 during the season and has looked a long way off the player who earned a 90.5 PFF overall grade in 2020. Fields, the 11th-overall pick in 2021, couldn’t get his feet under him in Chicago, with the team opting to reset by selecting Caleb Williams first overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.
“Still, Fields has improved in each of his NFL seasons and is coming off a career-high 74.6 PFF overall grade in 2023. Ideally, Fields will stick as the Steelers’ quarterback of the present and future, but either of these options would be an upgrade over last season.”
Wilson and Fields remain high-profile NFL players, even if they are in a new location in Pittsburgh trying to revive careers that seem to be trending in the wrong direction for one reason or another.
But will it be a true competition? That seems unlikely.
While Fields got a ton of reps in Organized Team Activities in an effort to get his feet underneath him, learn the system and adjust to new teammates, Wilson remains the starter entering training camp, one who will likely get a majority of the first-team reps early in camp.
Head coach Mike Tomlin has stated time and time again that Fields will get an opportunity to compete when appropriate, but will that be enough to truly compete against Wilson, push him and potentially overtake him as the starting quarterback in Pittsburgh? Again, that seems unlikely.
There is a lot of intrigue overall regarding the quarterback position as the Steelers have Wilson and Fields in place, both of whom are upgrades over what they had the last two seasons.
Wilson has the resume and the leadership qualities to help lead the Steelers into the 2024 season while learning a new offense under Arthur Smith, which is why he’s in the pole position. He’s likely going to be the starting quarterback to open the 2024 season, too, on the road in Atlanta. He should be the starting quarterback for the season unless injury or catastrophically poor play happens, too.
But Fields, who stated during OTAs that he doesn’t plan on sitting on the bench all season, has the right mentality. He should be heading into each day aiming to push Wilson with the goal of ultimately replacing him. Competition breeds success. Iron sharpens iron, as Tomlin likes to say. That’s what he’s aiming for at the quarterback position in 2024, which should benefit the Steelers greatly.
Just don’t expect it to be a true competition, like many in the national media want it to be.
