There seems to be a source-off taking place between the local media insiders for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the national reporters when it comes to the future of QB Russell Wilson. While some of the local guys are saying they are split within the building, Jay Glazer basically said Wilson’s time with the Steelers is all but done. Now another notable national insider is doubling down on Glazer’s reporting.
“I’m hearing the same thing,” said The Athletic’s Dianna Russini via The Herd on FS1 this afternoon. “Those conversations started to happen at the end of their season. They decided, ‘Alright, we’re gonna probably most likely stick with Justin Fields here moving forward.’ ”
She left herself a little wiggle room in this, saying they will “most likely” stick with Fields, but it’s a much stronger stance than either of the P-G guys who say the decision is still up in the air.
Wilson is 36 years old and through the first week of December, he looked like a revelation for this team, capable of taking them deep into the playoffs. That came crashing down when he lost five-consecutive games including the embarrassing first-round exit in the playoffs. Wilson was far from the only problem throughout that stretch, but he also didn’t elevate the team in the way that Mike Tomlin hoped he would back when he went “lone ranger” to make him the starter in Week 7.
Remember, Russini was reporting in late November that Wilson was “expected to stay” with the Steelers. Things were looking great at the time. That is how quickly things turned for the worse.
One of the benefits of having two quarterbacks on one-year deals was the flexibility to change course if things weren’t going according to plan. I would say the end of the season skid was far outside the plan, and so now they can course correct.
Glazer is one of the most plugged-in national insiders when it comes to Tomlin, which is why this report was given so much credence in the first place. Russini hearing the same things will only further that idea.
“For Russell Wilson, I don’t think it was the perfect fit,” Russini said. “I think it was a great move by Mike Tomlin and the Steelers organization to take a chance on him…And then we saw so much success out of it. There were blips of it, but I think in the end with who they wanna be and the identity, all the reasons that we thought it was strange, almost came to light now.”
Both Mike Tomlin and Art Rooney II were non-committal on the QB situation in their end-of-season media appearances. Tomlin even went as far as to say they were open to the possibility of bringing Fields back as the starter. That is what Russini is hearing as the leading option.
“I think Justin Fields is gonna be the one that they keep on this roster,” she said.
Keeping Fields probably makes the most sense. He has always had the better long-term upside, and the Steelers are unfortunately in a position where they need to think about the long term as they drift further and further away from a championship-caliber roster.
