At the top of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ agenda for the 2025 offseason is determining who will be their starting quarterback moving forward. While those discussions are ongoing and everything is on the table, Mike Tomlin left the door open for tabbing Justin Fields as the Steelers’ starter for next season. During his year-end press conference, Tomlin praised Fields’ progress and kept the possibility of re-signing and starting him open.
“Certainly,” Tomlin said Tuesday via the team’s YouTube channel when asked if moving forward with Fields was being considered, especially if Russell Wilson does not return.
Fields began 2024 as the Steelers’ starter after Wilson was plagued by a nagging calf injury. He started the first six games and led the team to a 4-2 record. Playing within structure, he avoided the high amounts of negativity and mistakes that doomed him in Chicago while also making plays with his legs. For a large chunk of the season, he led the team in rushing scores and helped close out wins over the Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers.
Despite his and the team’s success, Mike Tomlin turned to Wilson for the Steelers’ Week 7 game against the New York Jets. Wilson provided a jolt to the offense and temporarily took them to greater heights before the Steelers came crashing back to Earth during a five-game losing streak where they didn’t lead for a moment.
Tomlin said he saw enough growth in Fields to make him a candidate to start over an entire season instead of less than half of it.
“I think he took them,” Tomlin said when asked if Fields took the required steps. “I thought the way that he managed his professional circumstance was really impressive. I thought he brought an urgency to his day-to-day work regardless of his role. I thought he got continually better within our system of ball throughout the process. I thought the way he conducted himself [makes Fields] a legitimate thought or idea at this juncture.”
Justin Fields, Russell Wilson, and even third-stringer Kyle Allen are set to become free agents in March. It’s not clear what direction the team will go, and Tomlin said the organization is working through that decision. That includes evaluating outside options in free agency and the draft, an exercise Tomlin said he and GM Omar Khan will go through later this week. Given the perceived weakness of what’s available externally, it’s most likely the team will bring back one of its 2024 starters.
Predicting which one is guesswork. Tomlin and Wilson are close, but Fields is younger, more dynamic, and could help bring out the best in a Steelers running game that fell flat down the stretch.
It will be the Steelers’ main story until Pittsburgh comes to a conclusion, likely by mid-March.
