Over the front half of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2024 season, the quarterback situation completely enveloped the team. Things came to a head before Pittsburgh’s Week 7 showdown against the New York Jets. With Russell Wilson healthy, Head Coach Mike Tomlin made the switch away from Justin Fields despite the team’s 4-2 record. Now, Wilson is playing well enough to quiet the validity of that decision.
However, each quarterback’s future after the season wraps up is more of a mystery. The way Pittsburgh’s season ends will likely have a lot to do with each of their respective offseasons, but as of now, your guess is as good as anyone’s regarding the Steelers bringing back Wilson, Fields, or neither.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter joined The Rothman and Ice Podcast, and spoke about some of those storylines for the offseason.
“What is Russell Wilson gonna get on the open market?” Schefter asked. “There’s a lot of teams that need quarterbacks and it’s not considered a great quarterback draft class… Anyone of these teams that needs a quarterback, what are they paying Russell Wilson on the open market?”
Answering the question, one of the hosts, Anthony Rothman, suggests a possible $30 million per-year price tag for Wilson. Schefter thinks that’s possible.
“I think that’s not unreasonable,” Schefter said. “Baker Mayfield, Daniel Jones, that kind of thing if Russell has a good season… And by the way, I could make that same argument for Justin Fields. The chances are they’re [the Steelers] not gonna bring back both [Fields and Wilson], but you wanna have one. So you want somebody to kind of distinguish themself, separate themself, and then reward that guy for what he does.”
Right now, things are going well for the Steelers. They’re 6-2, and once again hold sole possession of first place in the AFC North. However, some tough decisions loom in the offseason, and deciding between these two could be the toughest.
Wilson is playing well. He’s showing an ability to unlock parts of the offense Fields couldn’t, especially when it comes to pushing the ball downfield. However, Wilson is going to turn 36 this season, making his age a factor. Fields is a decade younger, and looked much better this season than he did previously as a member of the Chicago Bears.
Schefter’s admission that they won’t bring both back could very well be an accurate one. Frankly, it’s not going out on a major limb. Up until now, each of them has been able to make the argument that they still deserve a starting spot in this league. Pittsburgh will have to decide between the two of them, but the contract situations for each of them could get pretty interesting after the season comes to an end.
