One thing that’s been discussed ad nauseam throughout the offseason is the Pittsburgh Steelers’ need for a starting quarterback. To find one, they have two options. There’s free agency, where aside from their 2024 options in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, it’s difficult to find a better choice. The Steelers can also look at the draft, but with the 21st overall pick, their hands are tied. NFL Network Draft Analyst Daniel Jeremiah wouldn’t mind pairing Fields with Alabama QB Jalen Milroe, who will likely be a Day 2 pick.
“If the Steelers did decide to re-sign Justin Fields and make him their quarterback going forward, I wouldn’t mind marrying [Jalen] Milroe up with him,” Jeremiah said Thursday during a pre-Combine conference call. “If you got Milroe in potentially, like, the third round, and you wanna be a physical, pound-it team, having Milroe develop behind Fields would be kind of fun to just really go all in on that approach.”
If the Steelers do indeed pair Fields and Jalen Milroe, they might have the best running quarterback room in the league. However, they’d run into some challenges throwing the ball.
Fields did win four of the six games he started in 2024. Much of his production came from his legs, though. The Steelers obviously wanted to limit him out of the gate. That made sense, as Fields came from a tough situation with the Chicago Bears in which he made plenty of mistakes. However, while Fields was successful in limiting those mistakes, he never really pushed the ball down the field.
Still, the fact that Fields improved as much as he did is promising. He went from a wild card in Chicago to a much more composed quarterback in just six starts for Pittsburgh. The progress he made is a sign that he can continue that development, although he still needs to improve as a passer.
From a playing-style perspective, having Milroe learn behind Fields makes sense. The two have similar games and each is excellent with his legs. Our own Alex Kozora took a closer look at Milroe’s game. However, it’s hard to learn from a quarterback who is still learning himself. It’s not as if Fields is a polished player. He’s got promise but is clearly still developing. Who knows if Milroe would learn enough from Fields to make the pairing worthwhile.
This is an interesting idea though. Both the draft and free agent classes are relatively weak at the position, so taking two chances to find their guy might not be a bad strategy for the Steelers.
