Fans, analysts, coaches, and now former NFL general managers believe Mike Tomlin is making a mistake by starting QB Russell Wilson Sunday night against the New York Jets, the clear trend that seems to be happening ahead of this game. Former Atlanta Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff respects Tomlin but says pivoting to Wilson and away from Justin Fields is a mistake.
“I have a great deal of respect for, when you’re talking about a head coach and, and what Mike Tomlin does and what he’s done,” Dimitroff said on The Zach Gelb Show Wednesday. “I love his approach to football. He’s looking at this in a certain way that personally I would not want to do this.”
Per Tomlin, Wilson is being “considered” to start this weekend and received first-team reps in practice, though Tomlin declined to break down if Wilson received all or a percentage of the snaps. Missing the first five games due to injury and spending last week as the backup, there’s concern Wilson will be rusty. Assuming he starts, it’d be his first regular-season start since Christmas Eve of last season.
Dimitroff, who served as Atlanta Falcons GM from 2008 to 2020, says whatever benefit Tomlin thinks Wilson could bring isn’t worth it.
“It’s gonna be interesting to see how that plays out to bring in Russell Wilson, who, to me, is definitely descending. We know that. I just don’t know. I still think there’s freshness with Justin Fields. I would love them to continue to go straight on with him, head-on with it.”
Even if Fields is the No. 2, it’s possible for the team to get him snaps. As discussed prior to Wilson’s September injury, Fields can be used situationally to take advantage of his legs and boost Pittsburgh’s running game. Still, that would be a small subset of snaps and dictated by game circumstances.
OC Arthur Smith has been happy with Fields’ play, praising him week after week, and Dimitroff thinks the coaching staff should push to keep Fields as the starter.
“If I were to be working beside him, I’d say, ‘Look, I wanna stay with this. Even though he’s not operating exactly how we want Justin Fields, he is coming along, let’s keep going with him.'”
Nothing prevents Tomlin from going back to Fields if Wilson falters. But the question will be how Pittsburgh’s record looks by that point. A switch would happen only if the Steelers are losing and Tomlin can steer a ship while playing quarterback roulette. And if Wilson loses, Tomlin might lose more than one game. He might lose the locker room.
