The Pittsburgh Steelers have a quarterback question. With only QB Skylar Thompson signed for next season, the Steelers will likely re-sign one of QB Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. Who Pittsburgh decides to bring back is uncertain, but there are certainly pros and cons for each.
One person who is firmly in the “re-sign Wilson” camp is ESPN’s Dan Graziano. Friday on ESPN’s Get Up, he argued that if Pittsburgh surrounds Wilson with better talent, he could lead the team to good things.
“Look, I mean the Steelers and Russell Wilson were a pretty good match,” Graziano said. “I think they like him there. They felt like he did what they asked him to do. If you’re the Steelers and you feel like you can add at receiver, and upgrade at running back, and another year with that young offensive line getting better, like you can build it up around him. I think, unless you have some glaring young option that is going to be better long-term, but I don’t see that for them.”
Wilson did show flashes after he first stepped in for Pittsburgh in 2024, but he faded hard down the stretch. Opponents took away the deep shots as best they could, and Wilson did not use the middle of the field. Graziano does make a good point that the team did not surround Wilson with much talent. But he also made too many careless mistakes such as not going down at the end of a scramble against the Baltimore Ravens resulting in a fumble and not going out of bounds during a two-minute drill against the Cincinnati Bengals.
I do agree with Graziano that if you give Rusell Wilson more talent at wide receiver he would play better, but how much better would he play? I find it hard to believe that even with more talent around him Wilson is capable of doing much more than a playoff berth and a first-round exit.
Former Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets linebacker and ESPN analyst Bart Scott made this point in response to Graziano.
“Isn’t that the same thing we talk about the Dallas Cowboys doing the same thing expecting a different result?” Scott said.
With a weak quarterback draft class, and no game-changing free agents, the Steelers will be entering another year of quarterback purgatory. Whether it be Russell Wilson or Fields, the result likely won’t be great. I would just take the chance on the younger Fields and hope he finally puts it all together rather than trot out the 36-year-old Wilson.
There is a higher ceiling with Fields and the Pittsburgh should take the shot rather than going with the floor raiser in Wilson. Steelers fans are sick of “winning seasons” that result in blowout Wild Card Round losses. Bringing back Wilson, even with an improved roster around him, is just going to be the same story. Yes, maybe bringing back Fields will result in the same thing, but we’ve already seen it with Wilson. Try Fields and then if it doesn’t work out be super aggressive in the 2026 NFL Draft to get the quarterback of the future.
