• Justin Fields displayed promising play through six weeks: The 25-year-old led the Steelers to a 4-2 record and earned a 71.4 PFF overall grade.
• Russell Wilson is back in a starting role: Wilson took over the Steelers' starting quarterback job against the Jets and engineered a 37-15 thrashing on Sunday Night Football.
• Unlock your edge with a PFF+ subscription: Get full access to all our in-season fantasy tools, including weekly rankings, WR/CB matchup charts, weekly projections, the Start-Sit Optimizer and more. Sign up now!
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Since Ben Roethlisberger‘s retirement after the 2021 season, the Pittsburgh Steelers have struggled to adequately replace him.
They tried finding his heir in the following year’s draft, but Kenny Pickett was unable to distinguish himself and was traded this past offseason. They’ve also experimented with free agents, but Mitch Trubisky has proven to be not much more than a backup at this stage of his career. They’ve even tried to go in-house, but Mason Rudolph is just a spot starter at best.
Despite a quarterback-heavy 2024 NFL Draft class, Pittsburgh wasn't in range for a top signal-caller at No. 20 overall without having to trade future picks and star players. So, the franchise found a middle ground: acquiring two veterans at a crossroads in their respective careers in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields to compete for the job at bargain-bin pricing.
Not much more needs to be said about Wilson’s career. After the Seahawks were universally panned for taking a 5-foot-11 quarterback in the third round of the 2012 NFL Draft, Wilson immediately silenced his critics by winning the opening day starter job from high-priced free-agent acquisition Matt Flynn, leading the Seahawks to the playoffs and putting up a 90.6 PFF overall grade as a rookie.
Russell Wilson's Career PFF Grades
He followed that up by leading the Seahawks to the franchise’s first-ever Super Bowl title and was among the league’s elite quarterbacks until his career went into a downward spiral following a trade to the Broncos ahead of the 2022 season. Wilson could never quite get going in Denver, and the Broncos chose to cut their losses on his five-year, $242.5 million contract. Since the Broncos still owed him money, Wilson joined the Steelers for the league minimum as a low-risk, high-reward option.
Justin Fields, on the other hand, has not enjoyed extensive success in the NFL. One of the most dynamic quarterback prospects the league has seen since Lamar Jackson in 2018, Fields was drafted by the Chicago Bears, who traded up to the 11th overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. He struggled to maintain any level of consistency in three seasons, as his flaws as a pocket passer were frequently exposed. He did show that he was a potential game-breaker with his legs, but the consistency with his arm was never there.
The Steelers managed to acquire Fields in exchange for a sixth-round pick.
Wilson and Fields competed for the Steelers' starting job throughout the preseason, and despite Fields taking the vast majority of the preseason snaps (70 to Wilson’s 26), Wilson was announced as the starter ahead of the season opener against Atlanta. That proved not to matter, however, as Wilson reaggravated a calf issue that had been bothering him for much of training camp. It knocked him out for several weeks, making Fields the starter for Week 1.
Fields won his Steelers debut after putting up a solid performance, completing 73.9% of his passes for 156 yards. He didn’t throw any touchdowns, as the Steelers won the game by kicking six field goals in an 18-10 win, but he did record three big-time throws, zero turnover-worthy plays and a 77.4 PFF passing grade.
In all, Fields has been reliable, though unspectacular, as the Steelers’ starting quarterback. He earned a 72.5 PFF overall grade through Week 6 with a 67.2 passing grade and a 74.8 rushing grade. His last two performances, against the Cowboys and Raiders, were his weakest, against whom he posted identical 59.1 PFF overall grades with passing grades of 52.8 and 45.5, respectively. Removing those weaker performances, Fields has a 77.6 PFF overall grade and a 78.0 passing grade.
Fields completed 65.3% of his passes for 1,238 yards with five touchdowns and one interception while making six big-time throws with six turnover-worthy plays.
Justin Fields' Career PFF Grades
On the ground, Fields added another 246 yards and five scores. His two best rushing games came in his last two outings, earning rushing grades of 72.7 and 83.2.
Couple Fields’ performance with that of his defense, and the Steelers were 4-2 — with both losses coming by just a field goal — heading into a Sunday Night Football matchup with the New York Jets.
The Steelers' offense under Fields ranked 18th in PFF grade (72.5), 13th in passing grade (67.9) and 15th in rushing grade (76.8). Their -0.023 expected points added per play also ranked 18th, with 41% of their plays generating positive EPA (20th).
Ahead of Week 7, though, Russell Wilson had fully healed from his calf injury and was given back the reins to the offenses. This was met with much criticism, especially considering Fields’ best days appeared to be ahead of him as a 25-year-old while the soon-to-be 36-year-old Wilson’s appeared to be long behind him. But head coach Mike Tomlin elected to go with the experienced Wilson against a stout Jets team that was looking for any kind of spark to turn its season around.
Wilson was up-and-down in his Steelers debut, barely completing half his passes for 264 yards with two touchdown passes and a big-time throw while not throwing any interceptions or making a turnover-worthy play. Historically, Wilson has been a very effective runner though he didn’t do much of it against the Jets, as he ran the ball only three times for three yards, two of which were quarterback sneaks. Otherwise, Wilson was mostly a statue. It didn’t matter, though, as the Steelers beat the Jets 37-15 to improve their record to 5-2 and tie for first place in the AFC North.
The question with this Steelers’ quarterback battle becomes: Would you rather have the pocket passer who can’t run like he used to or the dynamic playmaker who has some flaws throwing the ball? The Steelers have a decision to make over the second half of the season.
Pittsburgh faces the Giants on Monday Night Football in Week 8 before a bye in Week 9, during which the team will have ample time to solve the dilemma. Tomlin has yet to confirm his starting quarterback, but based on how things have gone for the Steelers through seven weeks, one must wonder how much of a difference such a change would make.
© 2024 PFF - all rights reserved.