The Pittsburgh Steelers kept Russell Wilson off the field for the first four training camp practices, letting Justin Fields lead. Wilson suffered a calf injury during the team’s conditioning test, and they have exercised considerable caution with him.
The result is the Steelers have gotten quite a considerable look at Justin Fields already, but to what end? Most argue that there is no quarterback competition, but Mike Garafolo believes otherwise. The veteran NFL Network reporters was in Latrobe yesterday, and that was his takeaway.
“The longer I talk to people about this one, the more I’m thinking that this one is more open than we’re giving it credit”, he said on the NFL Network of the Steelers’ quarterback competition between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. That is, of course, assuming there is one, and he believes Wilson’s injury helps make it so.
Fields is a former first-round pick who struggled to win games during his three seasons in Chicago. The Steelers acquired him via trade on the cheap with the Bears drafting QB Caleb Williams. But they only made the move after signing Wilson, and trading Kenny Pickett, so it wasn’t the plan, per se.
Regardless of the process, Fields is here now, and he is on the field practicing. He is getting quite a lot of work, in fact, and may continue to do so even when Wilson returns. They will want to be cautious with his calf injury, gradually working him into extensive practice time.
“The longer it goes and the more reps that Justin Fields gets, the more I think that this one is actually an open competition”, Garafolo insisted. “To be fair, Mike Tomlin never said that it was closed. All he said was that Russell Wilson was in the pole position”.
“This one’s open”, he added. “When we get into the preseason and Justin Fields starts doing Justin Fields things, it might get even more open, and maybe somebody else is in the pole position. We’ll see”.
One thing that is consistently observable is that members of the national media are far more confident that Justin Fields has a legitimate chance to start than local reporters do. Some local guys like Ray Fittipaldo even acknowledge as much and wonder why that is.
Garafolo, as noted, was actually in Latrobe yesterday, though, and he mentioned speaking to people about the Justin Fields situation at quarterback for the Steelers. He did not mention who he spoke to, of course, or what he heard, but he seems rather confident.
Yet some local reporters insist that the only way Russell Wilson doesn’t begin the season as the starter is if he is too injured to play. They all acknowledge the Steelers can make an in-season move if he struggles, but that Fields will begin from behind.
Garafolo said Steelers coaches and players are seeing regular improvement from Fields, for what that’s worth. He talked about their eyes lighting up and seeing the potential of his ceiling, but can he reach that high? That has always been Fields’ problem, after all. He couldn’t reach it in Chicago, so why here, and on what timeline? Before the start of the regular season?
