Russell Wilson might be the favorite to start the Pittsburgh Steelers 2024 season, but the 2025 campaign is wide open. While Wilson and Justin Fields are battling it out for the here and now, they’re also auditioning for the future. Pittsburgh is in the uncomfortable position of not having any of its top three quarterbacks under contract past this season. Wilson, Fields, and third-stringer Kyle Allen are all on expiring deals.
While that may compel some teams to ink one of those names to an extension before the season starts, the Steelers and Assistant GM are comfortable letting it play out.
“I think you just let it play itself out,” he said via the team’s YouTube channel. “You can’t worry too much down the road. You keep an eye on it, but you just take it one day at a time and watch these guys go out there and perform and evaluate and make decisions based on it. At the end of the day, at the end of the season, you’ll know.”
Pittsburgh signed Wilson to a one-year deal for the minimum, taking advantage of the Denver Broncos being on the hook for his 2024 salary. Fields was traded for one week later, the team declining his fifth-year option and making 2024 the final year of his rookie contract. And Allen was brought in as an experienced No. 3, something the Steelers value in their QB room, on a cheap one-year contract.
Rather than committing to a quarterback yet to take a regular season snap in Pittsburgh, the Steelers will use the fall as their barometer for their future. That comes with a level of risk. A player who has a great season will see his market value increase in a world where quarterback salaries are now routinely reaching the $50 million yearly mark. But the Steelers are taking the smart approach, letting the season be their guide and having all information available to them before making a choice.
After the season, the Steelers will have one of three QB options. Re-sign Russell Wilson, Justin Fields, or, and this is the worst-case scenario, start all over if neither quarterback proves worthy of an extension. Ideally, the younger and in-his-prime Fields finds a way to shine as the team’s present and future, but Wilson figures to start the year. If he keeps his job and leads Pittsburgh to a playoff win, a mark they haven’t achieved since 2016, he’ll be the obvious candidate to be retained. Though he won’t be nearly as cheap as he was the first time around.
