Right now, the million-dollar question for the Pittsburgh Steelers is who will be the team’s starting quarterback in 2025? Will they bring back QB Russell Wilson? He started hot but was largely ineffective during the team’s five-game losing stretch. QB Justin Fields helped guide the team to a 4-2 start but head coach Mike Tomlin made the switch to Wilson for Week 7 and beyond.
Neither quarterback is under contract for 2025. The prevailing opinion seems to be that fans don’t want Wilson back after that bad stretch to end the season. Could the Steelers instead turn back to Fields? Insider Gerry Dulac thinks it’s pretty likely he will be in Pittsburgh in 2025.
And you can add former NFL MVP QB Cam Newton to the list of those endorsing Justin Fields.
“I’m saying give it to Justin Fields,” Newton said Thursday on First Take. “Build with Justin Fields. He’s a young player you can build with. We’ve seen what Russell Wilson can do, now you’ve seen what Justin Fields can do also. Build around him, give him the skill set, give him the patience, and allow him to grow up under you guys. Justin Fields is the answer for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Now Fields was not stellar for the Steelers during the first six weeks of the season. Otherwise, Mike Tomlin wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on when switching to Russell Wilson. But no one can argue that Fields didn’t show growth from the end of his time with the Chicago Bears.
Fields set a career-high in completion percentage at 65.8 in 2024. That’s 4.4 percentage points better than his previous career high, which came in 2023. He threw only one interception in 2024, and his interception rate was a career-low 0.6 percent. He also had a career-low sack rate of 9.04, over 1.5 percent better than his previous low.
That’s a whole lot of growth. That’s why former Steelers OT Max Starks is bullish on Fields and thinks that he’s turning the corner. And Newton seems to think he’s worth building around.
But what does building around Justin Fields look like? Three areas stick out.
One is improved offensive line play. The Steelers appear to have their next franchise center in Zach Frazier. Fellow rookie Mason McCormick stepped in at guard admirably and played well. But offensive tackle play needs to be better. Dan Moore Jr. started out well but his play steadily declined in 2024. Broderick Jones did not take the next step as many hoped. And rookie OT Troy Fautanu missed almost all of the season with a knee injury. Fautanu’s progression this offseason will go a long way to helping the line, but it needs to get better.
Two, the Steelers need to get better wide receivers. They don’t have a quality option behind WR George Pickens, and former Steelers OL Kendall Simmons thinks Pickens needs to go with all of his issues. So at minimum, the Steelers need a quality second wide receiver (and potentially two starting receivers).
Three, offensive coordinator Arthur Smith (and probably Tomlin) need to trust Fields more. The Steelers did not throw the ball as much with Fields as they did with Wilson. What is most befuddling about that is that Fields posted his best completion percentage of the season (78.1) in one of the two games where he threw over 30 times. Fields completed 25 of his 32 pass attempts against the Los Angeles Chargers in the Steelers’ 20-10 win in Week 3. The following week, Fields completed 64.7 percent of his passes (22 of 34) against the Indianapolis Colts.
There are certainly glimmers of Justin Fields being a good option for the Steelers based on his growth in 2024. Perhaps if the Steelers show the same patience with him as they do with Mike Tomlin, they might find a quarterback who can help them contend in the playoffs.
