It would be easy to believe that there is an internal rivalry between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields going on behind the scenes in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room. The media has been talking about that possibility for months, using the tired old adage that having two quarterbacks means you have none. The Steelers are quickly disproving all of the clichés.
“We are in a tremendous situation where we are. I think there’s a lot of outside noise that makes it seem like it’s a negative thing and this rivalry internal. It’s not,” Wilson said after the game via the Steelers’ website. “We just wanna win. That’s what we’re focused on. I mean, I gotta give Justin Fields credit, man, just all the things that he was able to do, how great he’s been playing. He inspires me every day how he works, vice versa.
“We have a great relationship. He’s a tremendous quarterback. He’s a franchise quarterback. He’s a leader. He’s got all the intangibles and whatever I can give to him and show him and just be around him, that’s part of my job.”
Obviously both quarterbacks are there to compete and want to start, but that doesn’t mean it is going to become some rivalry that is detrimental to the team. Fields more or less hand-selected the Steelers knowing full well that Wilson was on the roster and likely to be the starter. Way back when Fields was drafted, he talked about the quarterbacks that he grew up watching and trying to emulate and mentioned Wilson. They have been in contact over the years and already had the beginnings of a relationship in place before joining the Steelers.
If you watched almost any national sports show over the last week, the vast majority of the analysts and television personalities were critical of the move to Wilson. Then as the Steelers started slow on offense, there were boos and Justin Fields chants in the stadium. That can make it seem like there is a rivalry, but that seems far from the truth based on the words of Wilson today and Fields in the past.
Even TE Pat Freiermuth said there’s zero jealousy, zero resentment between Fields and Wilson. Mike Tomlin has always had a good pulse on his team. He wouldn’t have made this move if it was going to blow up the locker room. That speaks to the maturity of the two players and the team-first mentality that both carry.
Wilson is a decade older. There is a non-zero chance that he is one-and-done with the Steelers this year. As Wilson said, and as Fields put on display over the first six weeks, his arrow is pointing up as a future franchise quarterback. At 25 years old, the Steelers might have the best of both worlds with Wilson for this year and Fields for the future.
