They might have been underwhelming during the 2024 season as members of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but five players set to hit the free agent market at the start of the new league year on March 12 find themselves ranked inside The Athletic’s top 75 free agents, which published Monday morning.
Quarterbacks Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, running back Najee Harris, right guard James Daniels and left tackle Dan Moore Jr. cracked the top 75 pending free agents, representing the Steelers in a big way ahead of the start of free agency.
Fields, who went 4-2 as a starter for the Steelers last season before being replaced by a healthy Wilson, was the highest-ranked free agent of the group, landing at No. 28 overall, one spot behind New York Jets free agent QB Aaron Rodgers. Fields landed in Tier 3 of The Athletic’s free agency rankings, which states “once quality players who are declining or had a down season; young, starting-caliber players who have been less consistent or have a hole or two in their game,” which sums up Fields well.
“Fields was off to the best start of his career in 2024 before being benched for Russell Wilson, posting a positive EPA/drop back (0.04, ranking 17th through Week 6) for the first time, throwing just one interception on 161 attempts and dropping his sack rate from historically high (12.4 percent) to merely bad (9.0),” The Athletic writes. “He’s an exceptional athlete, great to build a run game around, but will a team value his passing ability enough to make a bet on him?”
The No. 11 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft looked good at times for the Steelers in the first six games of the season. He took care of the football, was really good in the red zone and used his legs well, giving the Steelers another dynamic option in the run game.
Then head coach Mike Tomlin made the change from Fields to Wilson in Week 7, and Fields rarely saw the field after that, outside of some special packages featuring designed runs. The big question about Fields moving forward is if he showed enough for a team to take a chance on him as a starter, whether that’s in Pittsburgh or elsewhere. Six games are a small sample size, but Fields has great tools to work with and remains intriguing.
As for Wilson, he landed at No. 50 overall, well within Tier 4 of The Athletic’s rankings, which says, “Quality players with significant age or injury concerns; starting-caliber players with limitations or concerns; less-proven starters, especially at premium positions or with paths to high upside” regarding the players within the tier.
“Wilson wishes he were entering free agency back when the Steelers were 10-3. But they never won another game, and some of the warts in the 36-year-old’s game re-emerged,” The Athletic writes. “The deep lob is pretty when it hits, but not so much when it doesn’t, and Wilson can’t make the throws on the run like he used to.”
Wilson still throws a great deep ball, but the concerns that were there in Denver regarding three-pointers and layups resurfaced in his first season in Pittsburgh. It was either taking a shot downfield hunting the big play or checking the ball down. He rarely used the middle of the field, took some bad sacks and turnovers really hindered him late in the season.
He remains a starting-caliber quarterback, but he needs a great offensive line to protect him and weapons to work with, neither of which he really had in Pittsburgh.
Two spots behind Wilson, Harris landed at No. 52 overall.
“Yeah, maybe the ceiling is not super high, but the floor is pretty nice. Harris has four straight years of 17 starts and 1,000 rushing yards to open his career. He averages only 3.9 yards a carry and has never had a run longer than 37 yards…and is good for only a couple of 6-yard catches per game. But did we mention he never misses a game?” The Athletic writes.
“Harris seems like a perfect fit for a cold-weather team, much like his last one, but it will be interesting to see the demand on the market given the draft has what everyone says is a very strong RB class.”
The running back class in free agency is a weak market, which could lead to Harris getting a nice payday on the open market. The chances of that happening in Pittsburgh seem very, very low for the first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Durability is great, and the consistency is there, too. But as The Athletic writes, the ceiling is limited. But you’d be getting a high-floor player, knowing what you’re getting week after week in a bell-cow, bruising running back.
Behind Harris, Daniels landed at No. 62 within Tier 4, while Moore landed at No. 63. Daniels missed most of the season with a torn Achilles, but he was solid before the injury and had a decent stint in Pittsburgh. Moore looked to be parlaying his final season in Pittsburgh into a big payday in the first half of the season when he played some of his best football. The second half of the season was dreadful, though, as he allowed 10 of his 12 sacks and was arguably the worst offensive tackle in football late in the year.
Elsewhere for the Steelers in the free agency rankings, cornerback Donte Jackson landed at No. 111 and in Tier 7 of the free agency rankings, which highlighted “veterans who could start if needed, but teams would prefer to upgrade on; role players with a standout trait; talent worth taking a flier on.”
Linebacker Elandon Roberts landed at No. 117, just six spots behind Jackson in the same tier.
