Justin Fields is in the midst of a competition with Russell Wilson for the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback job, and while he did some good things during his first preseason action, head coach Mike Tomlin wasn't happy about his involvement in several fumbles during the team's 20-10 loss to the Houston Texans.
“I thought [Fields] did some nice things,” Tomlin said after the game, per ESPN. “But obviously, he was a component of the C-Q exchange, and from my perspective, that's dual responsibility on the center and the quarterback. It negated a lot of good things going on in those first couple of drives.”
As Tomlin suggests, there was a lot of good and bad in Fields' Steelers debut.
On the plus side of the ledger, the Steelers moved the ball well at times early in the game, quickly advancing to the Texans' side of the field on their first drive. Fields finished 5-of-6 for 67 yards in his brief appearance, which works out to a solid 113.2 quarterback rating.
However, the two drives Fields led were killed by fumbles during the quarterback-center exchange between himself and center Nate Herbig. While the Steelers recovered both, the loss of down and yardage ultimately doomed both these Steelers' trips downfield.
The center took responsibility for both miscues, but not being able to hang on to the ball is not what Tomlin wants to see from Fields, who is a reclamation project at this point after flaming out with the Bears. Plus, Wilson should be available for the next Steelers preseason game, which will ramp up this QB competition.
Steelers should give the job to Justin Fields over Russell Wilson
What happens if Russell Wilson beats out Justin Fields and Mike Tomlin hands the Steelers starting quarterback job to the veteran signal-caller who turns 36 between Weeks 12 and 13?
Even if Wilson finds some of his Seattle Seahawks glory days form and plays his absolute best and the talent around him does the same, what's the best-case outcome? The Steelers making the playoffs? Then what?
At 36, does the best Wilson have to offer give the Steelers enough to unseat Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs? How about Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, or even C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans?
The answer to all those questions is he almost certainly doesn't.
So does Fields put the Steelers into that upper echelon of the AFC where the cream-of-the-crop QBs roam? The answer is also probably not, but it's probably not certainly. Fields is 25, and as the 11th overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, there could still be some untapped potential there.
Unless Wilson looks like he could win a Super Bowl for the Steelers during the preseason, the 2024 campaign should be all about giving Fields a chance to show what he's got. Either way, it's likely back to the drawing board at QB in a year or two, so why not take the one shot Pittsburgh has to halt that QB carousel?
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