The quarterback decision this offseason could have large implications on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ future as they formulate a plan on how to best move forward. Winning a Super Bowl is always the stated goal, but good short-term goals are realistic and attainable of which winning a championship is neither. With that in mind, does it make more sense to move forward with Justin Fields or Russell Wilson?
If the Steelers had a complete team that could properly support a quarterback, then Wilson might give them a better chance of winning now, but it’s because they don’t that one Steelers insider prefers Fields.
“I think Wilson would be the better option if the Steelers were closer to winning,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said via The Pomp And Joe Show on 93.7 the Fan. “But my takeaway from the way that season ended is they’re not close at all. They’re certainly not close on defense. And then you look at that receiver room, they’re gonna lose Najee [Harris], you look at the uncertainty at quarterback. I just don’t think they’re close at all.
“I think you might as well build with the young guy. He could be your bridge guy and then hopefully find your next franchise quarterback in the draft in the next year or two.”
The other consideration is how much money the two quarterbacks might command in free agency. Fields might have some suitors, but he’s probably still a little cheaper than Wilson. Why spend more to get the 36-year-old with his career trajectory pointing downward when you can get a 25-year-old with his arrow pointing up?
Fields was playing the best football of his career in the six games he started for the Steelers. He improved in basically every way from his tenure with the Chicago Bears. His completion percentage, win-loss record, TD:INT ratio, success rate, passer rating, and adjusted net yards per pass attempt all went up. That includes a couple games at the beginning of the year where the Steelers left the training wheels on, notably against the Atlanta Falcons. Who knows what a full season would have looked like if he continued to progress.
The one issue is that the Steelers are almost always going to take whatever option gives them the best chance of winning in the present. Wilson probably still has a slight edge, so they could be tempted to look at their 2024 season and think about the injured and young offensive line, or the lack of weapons on offense and see that as fixable for 2025.
That being said, the Steelers obviously need to make some changes, and Mike Tomlin said as much in his end-of-season press conference. He even stated that the team is open to bringing Fields back as its starter and showered him in praise in the process.
Riding with Fields to get an honest 17-game evaluation of the former first-round pick seems like the prudent thing to do for a team that is searching for a future at the quarterback position. If it doesn’t work out, all eyes will be on the 2026 quarterback draft class that is projected to be quite a bit better than the 2025 class.
