The Pittsburgh Steelers are apparently interested in a lot of quarterbacks for 2025. Could they perhaps be looking at Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart in the draft? Well, one thing they haven’t been shy about saying is that they want at least one of their starting quarterbacks from 2024, either Russell Wilson or Justin Fields.
Fields went 4-2 as the starter and had a career-high completion percentage. Wilson started hot, showing an ability to connect with WR George Pickens down the field. But the Steelers still went 10-7 and crashed out in the first round of the playoffs. That’s why the Steelers are still looking for a solution in 2025. And Adam Schefter reported that Fields just might be the first name the Steelers have circled on their preference list.
But some people aren’t thrilled about either Fields or Wilson being the starting quarterback in 2025. On Tuesday’s episode of First Things First, the crew of Nick Wright, Kevin Wildes, Chris Broussard, and former New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini discussed the possibility of retaining either Fields or Wilson. The reaction to the question was lukewarm at best. Yet the potential for improvement helped guide a couple of them in a certain direction.
“With Justin, it’s probably the same ceiling or even a little lower,” said Broussard when speaking about how well the Steelers could perform with either Wilson or Fields. “But there is the possibility, it’s slim at this point, but a possibility that he roofs. I mean, we talked about Sam Darnold earlier. Nobody would have thought he had this type of year that he had last year. So, I would go with Fields. He’d probably be cheaper. And also, there’s a slight chance that maybe he improves and he becomes a better quarterback.”
Broussard draws an interesting parallel between Fields and Sam Darnold. Darnold went to the Minnesota Vikings as a backup to rookie QB J.J. McCarthy in hopes of turning his career around after his time with the Jets (and one season with the San Francisco 49ers). But McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury during his first preseason appearance. That thrust Darnold back into the starter spot, and he delivered, helping lead the Vikings to a 14-3 record. It was the first winning season of Darnold’s career.
Now, the situations are vastly different. The Vikings have quite a talented roster on offense led by WR Justin Jefferson. They also have a head coach, Kevin O’Connell, who is focused on the offensive side of the ball. The Steelers could certainly use more talent on offense and an increased focus on using the offense to win games, not living in the fear of losing games.
Mangini expects that if the Steelers keep either Fields or Wilson, things will stay largely the same in 2025. But he also sees that chance of improvement with Fields.
“At this point, it’s going to be more of what we saw last year,” said Mangini. “So, it’s hard to get excited about either of them. If you’re going to make a decision, maybe you go younger with the hopes that, because he improved, he’ll continue to improve, and the ceiling is higher.”
Fields certainly showed improvement in 2024. His completion percentage of 65.8 was a full 4.4 percent higher than his previous career high in 2023. Now, perhaps that’s due in part to the Steelers’ lack of aggressive playcalling. But Fields showed he could cut down on turnovers (0.6 percent interception rate, by far a career low).
Regardless of who the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers will be in 2025, general manager Omar Khan knows he needs to find a way to upgrade the wide receiver room. Perhaps if that happens and the Steelers re-sign Justin Fields, he can take the next step in his career. The prospect of improvement is enough for Mangini and Broussard to prefer Fields to Russell Wilson at this point in their respective careers.
