Coming out of the 2023 season, it was quite clear that the Pittsburgh Steelers needed to address the quarterback situation in a big way.
In recent months, the feeling was that the Steelers under GM Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin did just that, reshaping and upgrading the quarterback room in the blink of an eye by signing veteran Russell Wilson to a one-year, $1.21 million deal in free agency, and then trading a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft to the Chicago Bears for Justin Fields.
In the process, the Steelers cut Mitch Trubisky, let Mason Rudolph walk in free agency and traded Kenny Pickett to the Philadelphia Eagles for draft picks.
On paper, the Steelers looked much better and improved at the most position in sports.
Now though, coming out of two preseason games and a lackluster showing from Wilson and up-and-down performances from Fields, the Steelers are in a tough spot.
For former Steelers’ safety and current ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, the Steelers appear to have more questions than answers at QB now after moving on from Pickett, Trubisky and Rudolph.
“Yeah, it’s scary, right? You think about last season, at least going into the year, they felt like they had Kenny Pickett and knew exactly who their starter would be. Now with getting Russ, acquiring Justin Fields later, it seems that there are more questions than answers for the Pittsburgh Steelers at the quarterback position,” Clark said of the Steelers’ QB situation while hosting ESPN’s Get Up! Tuesday morning. “And that’s not the place that Mike Tomlin nor Steelers fans expected this team to be headed into 2024.”
Clark nails it with his take.
It’s not a spot the Steelers, Tomlin and Khan were expecting to be leading up to the 2024 season.
Things felt great in recent months, both internally and externally. Everyone was happy with the way the QB situation looked for the Steelers. But since training camp started, Wilson got hurt, and then thing have looked rather messy in the first two preseason games, there are some doubts starting to creep in and grow louder and louder, at least from the media perspective.
The team internally might still feel very good about the QB situation, regardless of the performance of Wilson against the Bills and the offense as a whole through two preseason games. But from the outside looking in, things are a bit concerning.
Of course, new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is calling a bland, limited offensive attack in the preseason to not show anything, which is perfectly fine. It’s all the basics. But even then, the Steelers aren’t executing all that well.
It’s leading to discussions and debates about who the starting quarterback should be between Wilson and Fields. There is no clear-cut, perfect answer for the Steelers right now, which is a real problem.Therefore, there are more questions than answers for the Steelers, and that can’t be a comforting position to be in, especially at the most important position in sports.
