The Pittsburgh Steelers once again head into the offseason with a major quarterback question on the roster. Mike Tomlin's team rolled out two very new and unique faces on the team in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields to mixed success. Ultimately, neither locked up the long-term job for the team.
Now, you head into the 2025 offseason with the roster set to potentially turnover once again. Wilson and Fields are both free agents, and it is likely that only one returns to the team.
While either quarterback is a feasible target, it seems like Fields is the early favorite to be brought back. This makes sense on paper, he is younger and more athletically gifted and has a higher long-term ceiling.
If the Steelers want him though, they need to make some serious concessions.
Pittsburgh Steelers won't have same quarterback problems with Justin Fields in 2025
Assuming the Steelers have pushed their chips all in for Fields, they need to have a clear plan in place to use him as a starter. That begins with him being the only starter in the room.
That doesn’t mean you can’t have a viable backup. You should, but you want to avoid the 1a, 1b option in the room. Fields doesn’t want to be in another competition if he is back in Pittsburgh. You sign him as your starter and treat him as such.
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This also means you build your scheme around him. To the Steelers credit, they ran with the assumption that Wilson was starting last offseason until injuries forced a last-minute change. That said, even after he was getting multiple games to show off his skills, the team never took the reigns off of him.
Simply put, you need to build an entire offense around his strengths just as the Eagles did with Jalen Hurts. If you can do that, then there is no question on who you should bring back. Likewise, Fields should be happy to re-up with the team that is dedicated to him, even if it is just for one year.