There are reasons that the Pittsburgh Steelers only spent a conditional future sixth-round pick on trading for QB Justin Fields. While he is a former first-round draft pick, he comes with his share of warts and a horrible win-loss record. Yes, the Chicago Bears moved on because they were drafting QB Caleb Williams, but they still gave up on him.
And they had legitimate reasons to do so—he has had shortcomings in his game that hold him back. But the Steelers are working on these things with them, and there are some positive developments. Justin Fields talked about some of his areas of growth lately on the WDVE Morning Show.
“I would say just uncovering pressures. You can see with our defense, post-snap coverages and stuff like that”, Fields said. “Our defense does a great job of disguising pre-snap coverages. Just doing that, and really just the command of the offense. Going up to the line of scrimmage with the process, saying the play out, looking at the front, handling the shifts and motions”.
“Pre-snap, process and just doing the same thing each and every play. Just seeing defenses, you kind of see the same things and the same patterns”, he continued. “Of course, our defense makes it hard and we have great guys on the back end, too, that make it challenging for us at practice”.
Slow processing speed and struggling to read defenses post-snap were two of the biggest criticisms against Fields. He still has issues—including balls batted down with annoying frequency—but he is coming along. Even some of the more skeptical beat writers have warmed up to him since watching him more at training camp.
With Russell Wilson still working to get all the way back from a calf injury, Justin Fields could get a good amount of playing time during the Steelers’ preseason debut on Friday night. They still have Kyle Allen and John Rhys Plumlee to play, but let’s not kid ourselves. They want to see Fields. We want to see Fields. Plumlee can return kicks if he really wants to get on the field or catch passes from Fields.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin insists the quarterback battle between Wilson and Fields “very much is a competition”. Yet that is not what the local beat writers continue to say, insisting that Wilson is still the starter. Even if that is the case, Fields is improving his chances of the Steelers giving Wilson a short leash.
Justin Fields has a big arm and excellent athleticism, so if the Steelers can teach him how to read defenses and do all the things quarterbacks are supposed to do, then they really have a legitimate franchise quarterback candidate on their roster. But there is still a long road ahead to get from point A to point B.
