The Pittsburgh Steelers may have sent QB Justin Fields back to the bench, but there is increasing momentum behind the idea of him being under center for them in 2025. Team president Art Rooney II has already said they hope to re-sign him or Russell Wilson. So if they don’t re-sign Wilson, then they are re-signing Fields.
Many have been reading the tea leaves, deciphering and parsing comments for clues. Whether it was Rooney or Mike Tomlin or Arthur Smith, you could cobble together a breadcrumb trail leading to Fields. And that is the path The Athletic reporter Mike DeFabo is treading.
“I think if you would have given Arthur Smith truth serum, he would have come out and said, ‘I want to stick with Justin Fields’”, DeFabo said on 93.7 The Fan yesterday. “I think that he’s basically taken that pole position from Russell Wilson. For me [one of] the only things that can change that are Justin Fields having a say in it”.
But he meant the possibility of Fields finding a more lucrative or promising opportunity elsewhere. He will be an unrestricted free agent in March if the Steelers don’t sign him to a new deal by then. If the team drags its feet, there is no reason Fields shouldn’t…play the field.
The other factor DeFabo mentioned that could possibly push Wilson back into pole position over Fields would be if Mike Tomlin were to go to bat for Wilson. Tomlin was very clear that it was his decision to pull Fields and start Wilson last year. Yet he also acknowledged at the end of this past season that Wilson didn’t play well enough.
Justin Fields started the first six games of last season due to Wilson’s calf injury. He led the Steelers to a 4-2 record and played clean football outside of some snap issues. Not only did he complete a career-high 65.8 percent of his passes, he threw just one interception. He threw for five touchdowns, and he also ran for another five, something Wilson couldn’t do.
Last year, throughout the offseason, Tomlin invoked racing to describe the quarterback competition. He said that Russell Wilson was in “pole position” to start due to his experience and resume. Pole position, for anybody who knows racing, doesn’t guarantee you get to the finish line first, though.
If Justin Fields is now in pole position that term doesn’t apply equally. Last year, Tomlin was talking about a battle on the roster. DeFabo is invoking the term to describe free agency priorities. Only one of Wilson and Fields will be here, so the race has to be won by the new league year. But what are the obstacles on the course?
