QB Russell Wilson significantly ramped up his practice participation today, per our very own Alex Kozora on X. He was held out of full participation over the first 10 days of practice due to a calf strain suffered while pushing a weighted sled during the conditioning test the Wednesday before camp began. He appears to be either all the way back, or nearly there based on practice participation.
When the Steelers opened practice with Seven Shots, Wilson was QB1. They then alternated reps with the first-team offense between Wilson and Justin Fields. Wilson took four of the seven reps in total. Three of those four reps were handoffs.
They continued to split reps throughout the rest of practice, with Fields getting more overall. Wilson had 11 total reps in live team sessions compared to Fields’ 17, per The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo on X.
Over the weekend, the latest reports indicated that Wilson would be seeing a doctor and that there was optimism that he could return this week. No report on said doctor visit yet, but his participation tells us what we need to know.
Over the first 10 days that Wilson missed practice, Justin Fields got valuable reps and an opportunity to show the Pittsburgh Steelers’ coaching staff what he is made of. Wilson got the vast majority of the first-team reps throughout spring practices, and there was no indication of a change in that pattern for training camp. Without Wilson’s injury, Fields may have gotten very few first-team reps throughout camp.
Wilson has slowly ramped up his participation with each passing practice. He even threw his first pass during an 11-on-11 team session. It was only one pass, but a positive sign nevertheless. He had also been participating in the individual drills and 7-on-7 at the end of practice.
Several prominent national media personalities who have been opined all offseason that Fields would win the starting quarterback job have been claiming he has gained some ground on Wilson in the competition. I am not convinced the “pole position” for Wilson has changed much, but Fields has gained ground almost by performing well while Wilson has been out or limited.
If anything, the Steelers got a head start on implementing specialized packages for Fields and figuring out what he does well within Arthur Smith’s offense. It also gave them a great opportunity to evaluate him for when it comes time to make the contract decision next offseason.
Now that Wilson is fully back and practicing with the team, it will be very interesting to see the division of labor with the first-team offense. Would Mike Tomlin still say “nothing has changed” like he did the Wednesday before camp began? Also, who will be getting the first-team reps on Friday when the Steelers play their first preseason game against the Houston Texans?
