We can probably mark this one down as unlikely to happen, but former NFL GM Mike Tannenbaum had a bold trade proposal this morning on ESPN that would make way for Justin Fields to be the starter for the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers. This trade involves shipping Russell Wilson to the Minnesota Vikings after rookie QB J.J. McCarthy suffered an injury that will hold him out for the season.
“Unfortunately for Minnesota, history is repeating itself. We go back to 2016, very unfortunate injury. Teddy Bridgewater had a catastrophic injury at practice. Sam Bradford gets traded from the Eagles to the Vikings. So to me, I think a win-win here is to trade Russell Wilson to Minnesota,” Mike Tannenbaum said via ESPN’s Get Up this morning. “I think he’s a better quarterback than Sam Darnold. They certainly would battle it out…Maybe you pick up an extra third- or fourth-round pick.”
The Steelers would be unable to trade Wilson without his consent. Earlier this offseason, Dan Graziano reported that Wilson’s contract contains a no-trade clause. But if the Steelers do end up choosing Fields, Wilson could potentially be open to being traded somewhere like Minnesota where he has a good chance of being the starter.
Wilson is a decent bartering chip in a trade for a quarterback-needy team. His contract is just $1.21 million, so the team on the receiving end wouldn’t have to maneuver its salary cap to accommodate Wilson. That makes him attractive as a one-year rental for a team like the Vikings that just lost its young and promising quarterback.
Kyle Allen has been a top backup before, but this would definitely hurt the Steelers’ quarterback depth if they made such a move. Tannenbaum has a solution there, too. He thinks the Steelers should go out and sign QB Ryan Tannehill. There would be less of a ramp-up period for Tannehill given that he worked with offensive coordinator Arthur Smith in the past.
Tannehill is one of Smith’s greatest successes as a coach. After six years of middling play with the Miami Dolphins, Tannehill turned into a Pro Bowler in Tennessee and led the Titans on a deep playoff run to the AFC Championship game. Coincidentally, Tannehill’s adjusted net yards per passing attempt was 5.29 before teaming up with Smith in Tennessee. That is the exact same ANY/A that Justin Fields had in his final season with the Chicago Bears.
Under Smith, Tannehill jumped from 5.29 to 8.52, which is a huge leap for the ANY/A stat. In this hypothetical trade scenario, the Steelers would be banking on Fields being the quarterback of the future while adding depth that is already familiar with the system. It sounds okay on paper, but this all assumes that Wilson loses the competition for the starting job. He likely wouldn’t waive the no-trade clause unless it became clear that he would be the backup in Pittsburgh.
To this point, Mike Tomlin has remained pretty consistent with Wilson being the starter, including three-straight depth charts featuring him in the top spot over Fields. I don’t think a trade like this ultimately goes down, but there will be some interesting conversations to be had if Fields ultimately ends up the starter in Week 1 or otherwise early in the season.
