Justin Fields is posting a career-high 73.3 completion percentage this season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s only been three games, but that number is significantly higher than his 61.3 career percentage. He’s coming off his best performance of the season, and he’s shown substantial improvement as a passer in each game.
Despite his strong start and the Steelers’ 3-0 record, Pro Football Hall of Famer Cris Carter doesn’t believe that Fields has done enough to win the starting job for good. Carter joined The Stephen A. Smith Show on Tuesday and said that Fields is not a “save the franchise” quarterback.
“We’ve seen him for four years, and we know that fundamentally he’s not going to be a great passer. Now does he have a better supporting cast? This is really about coaching and identity,” Carter said. “When he went to Chicago the identity was ‘save the franchise.’ He is not a ‘save the franchise’ quarterback. Now you come to Pittsburgh and they acquire Russell [Wilson]. There’s so much less pressure on [Fields] every single day. When you have a top-five defense the way they do…the amount of pressure that he is under is totally different.”
Justin Fields wasn’t the solution to the Bears’ decades-long quarterback woes. But if we’ve learned anything this season, it’s that the Bears’ issues extend well beyond just quarterback. Fields’ numbers were pedestrian while he was in Chicago. He struggled with accuracy, held onto the ball too long and took too many sacks, and turned the ball over too often. Yet first-overall pick Caleb Williams is dealing with the exact same issues in Chicago, most notably an offensive line made up of five turnstiles.
To evaluate his 40 games (38) starts over three years with the Bears and say that the 25-year-old Fields is never going to be a great passer. There are more and more examples over the last five or so years of quarterbacks revitalizing their careers in new situations. Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and Arthur Smith’s own product Ryan Tannehill are just a few recent examples. What do those guys all have in common? They were all older than Justin Fields is now when they turned their careers around.
Fields has a rocket arm, which has been on display since his rookie season. He has the ability to throw on the run like very few NFL quarterbacks can. Observing his growth in three games with the Steelers, he’s developed as a pocket passer, looking comfortable as he makes his progressions. He’s also getting the ball out faster, which was a major issue in Chicago. Through three games, he’s done just about everything that Arthur Smith has asked from him, and the 3-0 record reflects that.
Carter might not believe he’s a “save the franchise” guy, but unlike the Bears, the Steelers don’t need him to save the franchise. With Mike Tomlin at the helm, the Steelers will always be competitive, and with this elite defense, the real question we should be asking is just how good could the Steelers be if Justin Fields keeps improving? It’s too early to declare that he will never be a great passer, and his upside is still as high as Darnell Washington’s standing reach (which is to say really high).
