The Pittsburgh Steelers turned over their entire quarterback room this offseason, shipping Kenny Pickett to Tennessee via trade and letting Mason Rudolph walk in free agency.
The Pittsburgh Steelers turned over their entire quarterback room this offseason, shipping Kenny Pickett to Tennessee via trade and letting Mason Rudolph walk in free agency.
The team signed Russell Wilson and facilitated a trade for former Chicago Bears first-rounder Justin Fields. And while coach Mike Tomlin has said that Wilson is “in the pole position” for the starting job, there is expected to be competition. ESPN’s Brooke Pryor named the quarterback competition the top storyline in Pittsburgh this offseason.
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“Will Justin Fields get any first-team reps? … The true competition will undoubtedly ramp up later this summer in training camp, but mandatory minicamp is the next significant opportunity to evaluate the two signal-callers in offensive coordinator Arthur Smith’s system. While the Steelers traded for Fields with the intention of the 2021 first-round pick learning from Wilson, Fields expressed a desire to compete with the former Broncos quarterback and said last month he’s not planning on sitting on the bench all season.”
Fields declared his intentions to compete for the starting job during his first interview after joining the Steelers, and he isn’t passing up on the opportunity to learn from Wilson.
“It’s been great,” Fields said of his relationship with Wilson. “Just learning from him every day… the way he acts around his teammates. He’s been a great teammate to me. A great mentor to me. It’s awesome to have a guy like Russell in the room, and me get to learn from him and kind of pick his brain on some stuff for sure.”
