The two most obvious candidates to be the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback next season were on the roster in 2024. Russell Wilson and Justin Fields both seem to be within the range of possible outcomes. But could Arthur Smith’s pending head coach interviews change the Steelers’ situation in more than one way?
According to Mike Garafolo, Fields could potentially follow Smith if he gets a head coaching gig elsewhere.
“As for Justin Fields, if Arthur Smith winds up getting a head coaching job elsewhere, wouldn’t be surprised if Justin Fields follows him, depending on which job it is and what the situation is there,” Garafolo said via NFL Network’s The Insiders.
That would very clearly be talking about one specific job. Smith reportedly has interviews lined up for both the Chicago Bears and New York Jets for their head coach vacancies. Fields wouldn’t follow Smith back to Chicago with Caleb Williams, the quarterback they basically replaced him with, present. But if Smith gets offered (and takes) the job with the Jets, that could make a lot of sense.
They are unlikely to bring back Aaron Rodgers after the disaster of the last two years. After firing their head coach in the middle of the season, they will need both a head coach and a quarterback. This is just reading between the lines, but perhaps that would be part of the Jets’ plan if they chose Smith: to attract a talented former first-round pick who was playing his best football with Smith and the Steelers last season.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano thinks there is a pretty good chance that Smith will land the Jets job and predicted that on Tuesday morning.
The Jets hold the No. 7 overall pick, so there is a chance that their new GM (and head coach) could choose to use that to select a quarterback. The current consensus is that the QB class isn’t very strong, but that could conceivably push one of the top options to No. 7 and the Jets. Would Fields want to go somewhere that might draft a quarterback?
What we do know is that Smith likes Fields. Tomlin reportedly went “lone ranger” when he went with Russell Wilson over the 4-2 Fields at the time. Fields was pretty public in his support of Wilson while deferring the decision to Mike Tomlin. He even said they have “two starting quarterbacks,” specifically shutting down the notion that Fields is just a gadget guy.
Tomlin told the media during his end-of-season press conference that Fields was “certainly” under consideration to be brought back as the starting quarterback.
If the Steelers’ OC and their potential 2025 starting QB departed together, it would be a tough pill to swallow, leaving the Steelers with even fewer options.
