The quarterback carousel is a staple of every NFL offseason. It’s the most important position, and only about half of the league’s teams have their long-term solution figured out at any given time. Thus, the annual game of musical chairs that takes place at the position. The Pittsburgh Steelers are set to participate in this game once again, as are their two 2024 starting QBs in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields.
This year is particularly interesting because of the perceived lack of quarterback talent in the 2025 NFL Draft combined with the weak bunch of free agents set to hit the market in a little under a month.
Will those factors affect the price of the pending free agents, including Wilson and Fields? One NFL insider thinks they will find a weak market in March.
“Pittsburgh one way or another is probably looking at a shorter-term type of deal. The Raiders are looking at that as well. There’s only one — Sam Darnold’s the only quarterback, pending the tag, who’s gonna be free who anybody’s gonna invest in any type of money on,” Tom Pelissero said via The Rich Eisen Show on YouTube. “The other free agents are Fields, Wilson, and the other 2021 quarterbacks who all got cut. Nobody’s paying those guys on long-term deals.”
It’s tough to envision that the market would take a step backward based on the going rate for a starting quarterback as the top of the market continues to rise along with the rapidly inflating salary cap.
Seattle Seahawks QB Geno Smith is essentially at the bottom of the starting market with $25 million per season on a deal he signed in 2023. Gardner Minshew II ($12.5 million avg.) and Sam Darnold ($10 million avg.) came in below that figure, but they weren’t necessarily brought in to be the unquestioned starter. Both Wilson and Fields will be looking for starting jobs. Whether or not they find them outside of Pittsburgh is a different conversation, but I would imagine their contract talks begin in at least the $20 to $25 million per season range.
Fields is expected to garner interest from a number of teams, which he can obviously use to his advantage. Wilson has less leverage, but he also isn’t going to agree to go somewhere as a backup. If nothing else, he will drive his own price down for the Steelers to bring him back, though he could go to the Las Vegas Raiders to reunite with Pete Carroll and serve as their bridge quarterback to the future.
The legal tampering period begins on March 12. I would imagine the Steelers will have offers out to one or both of Wilson and Fields before that point, but we probably need to wait a couple more weeks for this to play out. The Steelers’ QB situation will yet again be a circus through the early portions of March.
