Russell Wilson being named the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting quarterback wasn’t a surprise to many people. Even though Mike Tomlin said the Steelers were having a quarterback competition, it never felt like Justin Fields had a serious shot. Insider Dianna Russini doesn’t believe that’s necessarily true based on conversations she’s had with people within the Steelers.
Appearing on GoJo and Golic on Thursday, Russini was asked if she thinks there ever was a serious quarterback competition in Pittsburgh.
“I did,” Russini said. “I think most people look at this and go, ‘Mike Tomlin said the pole position the entire time, and he was gonna always lean toward the veteran.’ That wasn’t the reality, not based on the conversations I was having on the ground yesterday about how this all came about.
“There was definitely opportunities for Justin Fields to take this, especially when Russell Wilson was dealing with that calf injury.”
That still doesn’t confirm that Wilson wasn’t always in the driver’s seat for the job. It’s possible that Fields could have won the Steelers’ quarterback battle, but that probably would have also required Wilson to play poorly. Wilson always seemed like Pittsburgh’s preferred choice. The Steelers did go after him first, after all. They only landed Fields after a string of interesting circumstances.
It seems like for Fields to have won the starting job, he would have needed to play perfectly while Wilson would have needed to falter. That may not be the case, but based on the results, it seems like the starting quarterback job was more Wilson’s to lose than it was Fields’ to win.
That doesn’t mean the battle is over. Wilson is getting the first crack at the job, but if he performs poorly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the reins handed to Fields. Tomlin seemed very impressed with Fields throughout this process, so even though he didn’t earn the starting job, he still helped himself enough to earn a second look.
Fields didn’t look amazing during the preseason. He had flashes, but many of the problems he had in Chicago resurfaced. Some time on the bench might be the best thing for him. He’ll still get on the field too, with Tomlin strongly hinting they’ll have packages on offense for him.
Overall, Fields still helped himself more than anything. He took advantage of Wilson’s injury and impressed the coaches. Now, he has an opportunity to stay ready and continue to prove why he should be the starter. Losing this initial competition could be a blessing in disguise.
