The Pittsburgh Steelers are letting Russell Wilson cook, but would he welcome Justin Fields as his sous chef? He previously endorsed the idea of the Steelers using Fields in a package of plays, but that was some time ago and the context is different today.
At the time, the Steelers had already named Russell Wilson the starter or were preparing to. And he knew all along that he likely would be the starter. But since then, he dealt with a major injury setback and watched Fields play well over six games. Wilson knocked off some rust in his first start last Sunday, but might he feel vulnerable? Would he welcome coming off the field for select plays to let Fields play?
“Yeah. I think, first of all, Justin [Fields is] such a tremendous football player. When he has the ball in his hands, he can do some special things”, Wilson said Thursday, via the team’s website. “For us, it’s really about us winning, and him getting in there and playing ball [and] when and if he does, I know he’ll do great. There’s always the different things we think about. How he gets in there, how we do this, how we do that, if that ever comes up. But I just think the biggest thing is just, it’s all about us together. That’s really how I think about it”.
Frankly, there probably aren’t many quarterbacks in the league who would publicly complain about such a situation. Even if Wilson were bothered by Justin Fields taking some of his snaps, I don’t think he could say much. In the past, Ben Roethlisberger would make some passive-aggressive comments about Wildcat usage, but even this is different. It’s another quarterback.
And this is a legitimate conversation. Steelers HC Mike Tomlin has acknowledged that he is open to using Justin Fields in some kind of package of plays. While he said last Sunday that he didn’t consider doing so in Wilson’s first start, he could in the future.
And it’s often things that reporters see in practice that prompts them to ask certain questions. If the Steelers are working in a Justin Fields package, they might have seen it on the field. Reporters can’t just write about what they see, so they need players to comment on it on the record.
As you might have heard, Fields is a very athletic quarterback with a 1,000-yard rushing season under his belt. While he wasn’t anywhere near such a pace this season, he did score five rushing touchdowns in six games. As a rookie in 2021 before cracking the starting lineup, the Bears did use him as a sub-package player, too.
But how would the Steelers employ Fields if they were to use him in a complementary fashion with Russell Wilson? I often hear people bring up the red zone, but Wilson is typically successful in the red zone. If you don’t want to take him off the field, how can you design a play with both of them in the mix?
