If Mike Tomlin has his choice of who the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback of 2025 will be, and the head coach often plays a central role in that, it might just be Russell Wilson coming back to pick up where he left off. Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wonders if that’s the right move. Discussing the team’s outlook at quarterback Tuesday morning, Florio thinks Tomlin’s affinity for Wilson could cloud his judgment this offseason.
“I think Mike Tomlin might have a blind spot for Russell Wilson that others in the organization don’t,” Florio told Devin McCourty. “If Tomlin is back, that means the views of others who think that maybe it’s time to move on from Wilson will have not prevailed in the showdown between Tomlin and others who I think would rather go in a different direction.”
For starters, Tomlin will be back in 2025 as he is set to conduct his year-end press conference later today. Florio has driven the “coach trade” bus as much as any pundit but they’re thoughts that will only exist in his own head.
Tomlin’s presence and sales pitch were the main reasons why Wilson chose Pittsburgh. Reportedly, the two immediately connected after meeting last year and it was Tomlin and GM Omar Khan who made the first phone call to Wilson once it became known that the Denver Broncos weren’t bringing him back.
It was Tomlin who stood by Wilson and made the unpopular decision to start him midseason despite the Steeler’ 4-2 record and success under QB Justin Fields. And it was Tomlin who consistently praised Wilson the player and person throughout the season, the veteran quarterback he’s been searching for since Ben Roethlisberger retired.
McCourty believes Tomlin must consider the feeling in the locker room. Would the players respond better to Wilson, to Fields, or to someone else not on the roster?
“I’m very interested in what is the feeling in Pittsburgh,” McCourty said. “That Pittsburgh locker room fell apart at the end of the season.”
While Wilson’s optimistic mentality was received better during the Steelers’ winning streak than their year-end collapse, there wasn’t any sense that the locker room had turned against him. Even in the midst of the losses, players went to bat for Wilson and his veteran presence.
Ultimately, this will be a question of which quarterback puts Pittsburgh in a better position to succeed. Tomlin and the organization will need to sort through it before free agency opens in March.
