The Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of questions to answer this offseason. One of the biggest ones deals with their quarterback room. Both starting quarterbacks from 2024, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, are pending free agents. So will either of them be back in 2025?
Head coach Mike Tomlin wasn’t the most forthcoming during his end-of-season press conference about the future of either quarterback. But he did speak well of Fields and seemed to say that Fields could find himself in the mix to start in 2025. So will Fields be back in Pittsburgh? And could he be the starter? Well, that may depend on whether Fields wants to be back.
Jeff Hathhorn, 93.7 The Fan’s sports director, joined the Fan Morning Show on Thursday to discuss Fields’ future with the Steelers.
“If I’m Fields, I have a list of questions I want answered,” said Hathhorn. “Are we going to continue to play passive? What’s the deal with George [Pickens]? Who’s our wide receiver corps for next year? Who else are you bringing in [at quarterback]? Are you going to tell me I have a competition, yet you’re gonna bring in Russell Wilson again or you’re gonna get Aaron Rodgers or Kirk Cousins, and here I am again, and I’m going to have to sit again while you publicly say it’s a competition but it’s not?
“That’s what I want answered if I’m Justin. Forget whether the Steelers want him. I think Fields needs to get those questions answered, because how could you like to play for a system that plays not to lose? That doesn’t go out and try to get it offensively, but eh, let’s just see if we can hold onto the football and kick six field goals?”
That’s a lot of questions. But Hathhorn makes some good points. Fields didn’t become a quarterback to just be a game manager. Who doesn’t dream of throwing the football all over en route to winning a Super Bowl? And who dreams of simply handing the ball off and checking the ball down? Because in Fields’ six starts, he only attempted 30 or more passes twice. And if you drop that number to 25 or more, it only adds one more game to the list.
That means that Fields attempted less than 25 passes in half his starts. For comparison, Russell Wilson attempted 30 or more passes in five of his 11 starts, including in the playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens. And he only had one game this year where he attempted less than 25 passes, the Steelers’ 27-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
It certainly seems like the Steelers simply did not trust Fields to “get it offensively” as Hathhorn put it. In fact, if you look at some of the advanced stats, Fields had his fewest Intended Air Yards Per Pass Attempt in his career this season at 7.7. That means he wasn’t pushing the ball down the field like he was in Chicago. And that’s supposed to be one of his strong suits. So would Fields want to run that back in 2025?
And would Fields want to play with a group of wide receivers like this year’s corps? Yes, the Steelers pursued upgrades in the form of San Francisco 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk and potentially New York Jets WR Davante Adams. But they failed and routinely trotted out WR Van Jefferson to take meaningful snaps. Even the midseason addition of WR Mike Williams didn’t make a big impact. Wilson only targeted Williams 13 times despite Williams appearing in nine games in Pittsburgh.
The Steelers certainly need to upgrade at wide receiver regardless of who the quarterback is in 2025. But Fields will certainly want assurances that the Steelers are committed to spending resources at the position.
And then there’s the matter of who else the Steelers will bring in at quarterback. A number of people have called for the Steelers to pursue New York Jets QB Aaron Rodgers if he becomes available. Hathhorn also mentions Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins, who has been supplanted by Michael Penix Jr. in Atlanta. Minnesota Vikings QB Sam Darnold could be an option as well.
And any of those options, especially Rodgers and Cousins, would immediately slot in ahead of Fields on the depth chart.
So Justin Fields certainly has some serious questions to ask general manager Omar Khan and head coach Mike Tomlin when they sit down this offseason. And that will go a long way toward determining whether he wants to be back in Pittsburgh. Will the Steelers want to bring him back? Albert Breer thinks it’s more likely the Steelers would bring Fields back than Wilson, but only time will tell.
