Shortly after Russell Wilson and Justin Fields were both added to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster, Adam Schefter reported that an unnamed league exec told him they could see Russell Wilson being released prior to the start of the season if he was outplayed by Justin Fields. That obviously didn’t happen, but we are now in a situation where Fields is 2-0 for the Steelers, with a chance to go 3-0 next week against the Los Angeles Chargers.
If the Steelers decide to ultimately ride the hot hand of Fields once Wilson is deemed fully healthy, what could that mean for the veteran QB? Multiple analysts and experts on ESPN discussed the idea of a trade this morning.
Mike Greenberg asked the panel on ESPN’s Get Up this morning if teams would have any interest in trading for Wilson.
“Yeah, I think he’d be the number one guy you would call,” Rex Ryan said. “There’s no doubt you would. And here’s the thing, and people are gonna be, ‘Oh, you can’t, then what do you ask for?’ Here’s what you ask for. You ask for a first-round pick. They’re not gonna trade him because their situation is good…So no, but I’m telling you, you’ve seen it. What’s the price of a starting quarterback in this league? It’s a first-round pick.”
If the Steelers received that type of offer, it would seem like a no-brainer to accept. But who would make such a deal for a 35-year-old quarterback that is currently dealing with a calf injury. The answer is likely nobody, but the Miami Dolphins are the most intriguing team right now.
Tua Tagovailoa just suffered a concussion on Thursday that has many questioning his future in the league. The Dolphins are an otherwise competitive team that have qualified for the playoffs in each of the first two seasons of head coach Mike McDaniel’s tenure. That isn’t going to last long with Skylar Thompson as the starting quarterback.
They paid Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and Tagovailoa big money, so they can’t exactly make moves to absorb other big contracts. Russell Wilson is on just a one-year, $1.21 million deal.
Dan Graziano wrote about this in his Week 2 overreactions post this morning via ESPN. He labeled the idea of the Dolphins trading for Wilson an overreaction.
“One interesting side note here is that Wilson actually has a no-trade clause in that minimum-salary deal with the Steelers,” Graziano wrote. “So even if it came to this, he’d have to approve the deal. Now I have no idea why someone wouldn’t want to go play quarterback for Mike McDaniel and throw to Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, but who knows? The point is, there’s a lot working against this idea.”
With uncertainty surrounding Wilson’s calf and Tagovailoa’s possible return, it probably wouldn’t make much sense until there is more clarity on both situations. Would the Steelers even want to make the move? It is hard to rule it out if the offer is strong enough, but would anybody really offer enough to make it worth it?
It was just three weeks ago that the Steelers named Wilson the starting quarterback over Fields. They also voted him a team captain. Fields is making the decision more difficult by starting 2-0, but has he really done enough for the Steelers to commit to him for the entire season? The offense has averaged just 15.5 points per game.
It would be a complete shock if anything comes of this situation. For now, it is just idle speculation by analysts trying to connect the dots. But the mere fact that this is being talked about two weeks into the season is a very intriguing development for the Steelers and the future of Fields in Pittsburgh.
