Pittsburgh Steelers Exit Meeting: QB Justin Fields
Experience: 4 Years (1 with Steelers)
Now that we have covered all of the Steelers’ starters, it’s time to loop back to the rest of the roster, starting with QB Justin Fields. Given that he started the first six games in 2024, it’s fair to say Fields is the most significant non-starter. In fact, the principal Steelers talk of the offseason is whether Fields or Russell Wilson is their starter for 2025.
Fields is an interesting player for obvious reasons. The Chicago Bears drafted him 11th overall in 2021, but they completely lacked structure around him. For that, many gave him a pass. While he showed progress in certain areas with the Steelers, his evaluation remains very much incomplete.
The Steelers traded for Justin Fields only to be the backup to Russell Wilson. He only started because Wilson’s calf got the worst of a blocking sled. If the Steelers were to re-sign Fields and cater the offense to him truly, things could be different.
They could be better; they could be worse. At the least, they should be more interesting. The Steelers haven’t had a quarterback this dynamic since Kordell Stewart. Justin Fields has superior athletic ability, but he’s still not Lamar Jackson. He has a big arm, but he doesn’t process the field well. He has improved his accuracy, but it’s still not at a high level compared to the best. As the Steelers increased the degree of difficulty of his throws, his completion percentage decreased.
Unfortunately, the six games Fields started for the Steelers aren’t enough to form an evaluation. They have to decide whether to re-sign him based on that limited sample size, because they chose to turn to Russell Wilson. It seemed like the right answer—they did go 6-1 at first—but are they better off now?
If Justin Fields is their starter in 2025, then they absolutely need to get more out of the passing game. In four of his six starts, he threw for under 160 yards. While he rushed for five touchdowns, he only threw for five. You are not going to compete for Super Bowls by throwing for 15 touchdowns all year.
The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves at home, the inevitable result of another early playoff exit. This is a repeated pattern for the organization, with no clear end in sight. As the Steelers conduct their own exit meetings, we will go down the roster conducting our own. Who should stay, and who should go, and how? Who should expect a bigger role next season, and who might deserve a new contract? We’ll explore those questions and more in these articles, part of an annual series.
