Russell Wilson may be the starting quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers to begin the season, but that doesn’t mean he’ll hold that spot for the entire season. Justin Fields’ youth and athleticism make him an intriguing option, and Mike Tomlin isn’t going to let him rot on the bench. It sounds like people around the league believe Fields should be the starter, though, at least according to insider James Palmer.
Appearing on The Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday, Palmer spoke about what some people around the league were saying about the Steelers quarterback situation.
“I’ve talked to some people around the league about this competition, and I was hearing from more than one person, ‘I think it might be time to start catering this offense to Justin Fields,'” Palmer said. “It was brought up to me by some people that know Arthur [Smith] really, really well. You could take all the stuff he ran with Marcus Mariota and then just reinsert that back into the playbook. All the stuff that uses Justin Fields as an elite runner.”
Mariota’s story is similar to Fields in that he was once selected highly in the first round but then did not live up to the hype. He spent the 2022 season with Smith’s Atlanta Falcons, where he started for 13 games. Mariota didn’t have his best passing season, but he did put up his best rushing season.
With Smith calling plays, Mariota had the most rushing attempts and yards in his career. He had 85 attempts for 438 yards and four touchdowns. He went 5-8 as the starter but had his best season since 2018. Overall, it was a successful season for Mariota, at least by his standards.
Fields is also a much better runner than Mariota ever was. He is one of only three quarterbacks to ever rush for 1,000 yards in a season. That kind of talent mixed with the play calling of Smith could be a lethal combination. If he was able to wring talent out of Mariota, he should be able to have similar success with Fields.
With there being packages on offense designed for Fields, it seems we should see some version of Smith’s play calling with Fields at quarterback. If Wilson can’t hang on to the starting job, those plays may become a preview of what is to come. It sounds like people around the league see that as being a successful strategy. Maybe it could become a reality for the Steelers at some point.
