When the Pittsburgh Steelers traded for Justin Fields, they expected to get a project. Fields has incredible talent, but mistakes on the field held him back with the Chicago Bears. He didn’t blossom into the franchise quarterback they thought he could be. However, the Steelers probably thought they could try to fix him. Now, it’s looking like that investment could pay off. Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter has been very impressed with Fields’ growth.
“He’s been able to effectively get used to the receivers that he has,” Carter said on a recent episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show. “Especially the last two weeks, you can see the improvements in his overall passing game, and that’s what you want to see from a young quarterback. Even though it’s his second team, he is still a very, very young quarterback in this league.”
That’s a pretty different tune compared to what Carter was saying. A week ago, he still didn’t believe Fields had won the starting quarterback job. It looks like Fields has done enough to change Carter’s mind. That’s warranted, too. Fields has really started to come alive over the last few weeks.
During that same episode, Carter explained why Fields should continue to be the starter.
“I believe it’s been a great month for Justin Fields. He’s had a couple of games where he’s thrown for over 250, 300 yards. That’s not going to be his forte. But the one game they lost, it wasn’t because of him. Now we got a sample size of a month.”
In the first two weeks of the season, Fields showed flashes of amazing passing abilities, but the Steelers seemed nervous to totally cut him loose. Considering Fields’ history with turnovers, that made sense. However, over the last two weeks, they seem to have had more confidence in him.
Against the Los Angeles Chargers, Fields threw to the middle of the field more frequently. He did throw an interception, but the Chargers’ defense is one of the best in the league, and he battled nicely against them. He was part of the reason the Steelers won that game.
What really may have influenced the change in Carter’s line of thinking was this past game against the Indianapolis Colts. The Steelers lost, but Fields showed some serious tenacity. Even though the team was down by 17 and couldn’t seem to do anything right, Fields still almost completed the comeback. It was a fantastic effort, even if the final result wasn’t ideal.
It’s also not like the Steelers’ offense has done Fields a ton of favors. The offensive line is dealing with several injuries, and that’s causing their running game to struggle. Just as well, George Pickens has been the only consistent pass-catcher, and even he had some issues against the Colts. There are problems with the Steelers’ offense, but Fields is not one of them.
He’s set to start in Week 5, so he’ll have a chance to continue proving doubters wrong. He’s done enough to change Carter’s mind, but there’s still a lot of work left to do. If he wants to really change the narrative around him, he’ll need to put together a complete season with the Steelers. He’s on a good track to do that now, but things can always change.
