Though much of the prevailing wisdom suggests the Pittsburgh Steelers will bring back QB Justin Fields for 2025, the door shouldn’t be completely shut on Russell Wilson. In fact, ESPN’s Adam Schefter believes it’s wide open. Debating Wilson’s future and if he’ll land with the Las Vegas Raiders instead, Schefter made it clear that Wilson could re-sign with the Steelers.
“Pittsburgh has expressed an interest in bringing him back and I think we start there because they’ve got first dibs on the guy,” Schefter said on ESPN’s Get Up Thursday morning. “But it has to make sense for both sides. And if there’s a deal there that works for both of them, then they go ahead and do it. If not, then we start to flush out the options.”
Schefter could just be reading the tea leaves following recent comments from Russell Wilson and Art Rooney II. Last week, Wilson told The Pat McAfee Show there’s been preliminary contract talks with the team. Rooney noted his “preference” is for the Steelers to retain one of Fields or Wilson, though he made clear the team was still deciding between the two. But Schefter is also the NFL’s most plugged-in insider and if those comments were all smoke and mirrors, he’d probably see through it.
Pittsburgh has “dibs” since Wilson won’t become an unrestricted free agent until mid-March. The legal tampering period gives all free agents a 48-hour head start on talking to other teams even if no deals can officially be agreed to until the start of the new league year. The NFL Scouting Combine serves as an informal landscape for agents and teams to talk and get a sense of the market and player preference.
If Russell Wilson can’t strike a deal with the Steelers, reuniting with former coach Pete Carroll makes sense for both sides. It would be a familiar point for both men to start over. Carroll coaching his first new team after spending over a decade with the Seahawks and taking 2024 off. Wilson on his third team in three years, a soft landing that wouldn’t be completely starting from scratch. Especially if the Raiders hire Darrell Bevell as their offensive coordinator, the current favorite for the job.
Ultimately, it still seems like a coin flip which way the Steelers will go. Pundits have suggested the needle is pushing towards Fields, but the answer could lie in which quarterback is willing to be more flexible in his contract. If Wilson simply wants too much or if the structure doesn’t appeal to the Steelers, they could pivot to a cheaper Fields.
