There is just one week left in the preseason before the NFL transitions to the start of the regular season, and while teams across the NFL landscape are naming their starting quarterbacks, the Pittsburgh Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin have not come close to deciding that — at least publicly — just yet. That’s due, in large part, to veteran quarterback Russell Wilson and fourth-year signal caller Justin Fields remaining locked in a battle for the job, one that neither has truly grabbed ahold of just yet.
For NFL Network Insider Mike Garafolo, the starting quarterback job is something that Wilson, who has been the perceived starter since signing with the Steelers as a free agent, needs to show he deserves.
Appearing on Tuesday night’s “Insiders” show on NFL Network, Garafolo said that Wilson needs to truly grab ahold of the job because he’s not going to win it by default, especially after Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin called Wilson’s preseason debut an “incomplete study” against the Buffalo Bills.
“When he [Mike Tomlin] calls it an incomplete study, part of that is because Russell Wilson wasn’t on the field for the first part of training camp because of that calf injury. So that leads to the incomplete part of it. The other part that leads to the incomplete part is that Russell Wilson hasn’t jumped up and really grabbed this job, secured this job,” Garafolo said of the Steelers’ QB situation, according to video via NFL Network. “He was in the quote-unquote pole position. That’s what Mike Tomlin said, but he still has to win the job. He was not gonna win it necessarily by default. He’s gotta show them that he deserves that job. And Justin Fields, it hasn’t been all sunshine along the way, but there’s been moments even in training camp, even in meetings where apparently he is showing them a lot and the upside that he could potentially have and the fact that he is embracing coaching and getting stronger with his understanding of what they’re trying to do from an offensive standpoint.
“I thought in the preseason we’d see some more Justin Fields fireworks. We haven’t seen that. So that also leads to the, uh, part that Tomlin calls it incomplete. So yeah, it’s coming down to the final stretch here…”
When the Steelers signed Russell Wilson to a one-year, $1.21 million deal as a free agent, head coach Mike Tomlin stated that the former Super Bowl-winning quarterback and potential future Hall of Famer would be in the “pole position” as the QB1 for the Steelers throughout the offseason.
That then rang true in OTAs and mandatory minicamp. Still, once the Steelers reported to training camp, Wilson’s calf injury suffered during the conditioning test opened the door for Fields, who seized upon it and made some plays in training camp, impressing many.
There’s a real excitement for Fields overall, but even he hasn’t shown out during the preseason. He’s also had some struggles, including two fumbled center-quarterback snap exchanges before holding onto the football too long in the pocket, leading to two sacks against the Houston Texans.
Against the Bills, Fields had some positive moments, but he still hasn’t shown enough to wrestle the job away from Wilson. On the other hand, Wilson hasn’t shown anything to solidify himself in the starting role, so like Garafolo pointed out, he still needs to win the job by showing the Steelers he deserves it.
It’ll be very interesting to see how the Steelers and Tomlin decide to handle the quarterback situation on Saturday in Detroit against the Lions in the preseason finale. Odds are, both will play, but how the workload is divided up will be key.
We’ll see if one of them can truly grab the job in the preseason finale for the Black and Gold. There’s still a lot of work to do.
