It’s now officially official that Russell Wilson will serve as the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback to open the 2024 NFL season, and while it feels like Wilson always was the heavy favorite for the job, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith said on the Scoop City podcast in an interview with Dianna Russini that it was indeed a competition.
“It was an unusual situation coming in. I mean, very rarely do you have guys that are in this spot,” Smith said. “Normally it’s you drafted a young guy, you have a veteran you may have signed, but in the modern NFL, this is very unusual, how many comps? And then obviously Russ started camp and is a little behind because of the calf strain, but both those guys [have] done a terrific job. Russ has got a lot of snaps under his belt and then won a lot of games in this league. And he’s got a lot of experience and understanding in what it takes to win consistently. They really competed.”
Smith said Fields is “eager to work an improve,” and that he came to Pittsburgh with “a lot of humility.” Even if Wilson was the favorite for the job all along, Fields pushed him enough it seems to at least plant the seed in the organization’s mind about him starting. Still, he just never put himself over the edge, even with getting first-team reps when Wilson was sidelined due to the calf strain he suffered during the team’s conditioning test.
In the end, Wilson’s experience and pedigree, the reason why he was in pole position to begin with, won out and now he’ll look to add to his legacy with the Steelers. As Smith said, Wilson understands what it takes to win, with a Super Bowl victory on his resume, and the hope is that he can lead Pittsburgh on a playoff run this season. Wilson presents an upgrade over where Pittsburgh was in its quarterback room last year, and with a defense and run game that should both be among the best in the league, it’s reasonable to expect more success than last year’s Wild Card Round loss.
Even with Wilson starting, it sure sounds like Fields will have packages for him in the playbook. Smith told Russini that everything’s on the table and Mike Tomlin mentioned that Falcons head coach Raheem Morris should be ready for them Week 1. So even with Wilson winning the job, it doesn’t seem like Fields will be a traditional backup. His speed and mobility could wind up being an asset in short yardage for the Steelers and provide a new dynamic to their offense.
While Fields may not have won the QB1 job, he’s still going to seemingly have an important role to the success of this team, and Smith has to be excited about the possibilities of what he can run and different looks he can give teams with the talent in his quarterback room this year.
