When the Steelers turned to Russell Wilson over Justin Fields, did the locker room resist the move, as some say? National reporter Albert Breer recently said as much, but Mark Kaboly pushed back on that narrative. He said that he hasn’t heard that from players, and that, instead Breer heard that from another source.
“No. I mean, I haven’t really talked to Arthur Smith about it—wink, wink, nod, nod—of what was happening there”, Kaboly said on 93.7 The Fan when asked if he also heard the same about the locker room’s opinion about shifting from Wilson to Fields. “What I’m trying to tell you is we know where [Breer] got his information from”.
While he never outright said it—of course he wouldn’t—most agree that Arthur Smith wasn’t in love with playing Wilson over Fields once the former was healthy. He spoke very highly of Justin Fields, even after the Steelers shifted gears and went to Russell Wilson. Of course, the reports of his friction with Wilson late in the season doesn’t help that. But Kaboly doesn’t buy that Breer has any insight into what the players really think.
“It’s always strange to me, people who talk about what happens inside the locker room who haven’t been inside the locker room for 15 or 20 years”, he said, questioning where Breer’s knowledge of the Wilson and Fields situation comes from. “You’re just taking a guy’s word for it of what a guy’s view is. I didn’t notice anything, unless I’m oblivious to the fact”.
It is, of course, possible that Kaboly hasn’t heard everything there is to hear. Most likely, there were some in the locker room who preferred Wilson and some who preferred Fields. That’s typically how these things go when a team has a major decision to make.
Kaboly reiterated that he hasn’t heard from any players that they didn’t want to move to Wilson from Fields. And he added that, in contrast, he did hear players agree with the move to trade George Pickens after it happened. In other words, with Wilson and Fields already gone, we would have heard these opinions by now. “So I would assume that comes from Arthur Smith at the point”, he said.
Then again, players are more likely to confide in their offensive coordinator than a reporter. It’s possible, in theory, that players expressed their grievances to Smith about Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, and Smith communicated that to Breer.
Or nobody really knows anything about what the players really feel. And none of it matters anymore because both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson are gone, of course. What’s more relevant, obviously, is what the Steelers’ locker room feels about Aaron Rodgers. Both the idea of bringing him in at all, and the fact that he is not here. There are already indications that many are tired of it, and you can hardly blame them if so.
