The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback quandary ended when Russell Wilson was medically cleared from an offseason calf injury. Justin Fields reverted to Wilson’s backup and debuted his limited package in Week 11 against the Baltimore Ravens.
Both players bring unique strengths and weaknesses to the table, but the jury is still out on whether this was the right call.
Ben Rolfe at Pro Football Network recently broke it down like this:
13) Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers
Grade: C+Russell Wilson is the poster child for why we set a 100-pass attempt minimum for these rankings. A week ago, he would have ranked inside the top five in these rankings, but his fourth start saw him plummet down the rankings after he ranked 26th on the week.
Wilson has been good when able to operate from a clean pocket this season, ranking eighth, but ranks 28th when he has to make plays under pressure. Prior to this week, choosing Wilson as the starter over Fields looked like a wise decision, but that is less decisive after the game against the Baltimore Ravens
14) Justin Fields, Pittsburgh Steelers
Grade: C+It was a brave call from the Pittsburgh Steelers to bench Justin Fields after a 4-2 start to the season. Fields was having his career-best season in Pittsburgh, but the bar was low, and the numbers do not suggest he should have unquestioningly remained the starting QB.
There was a lot of promise about what Fields was doing, including ranking 10th when throwing under pressure and converting on third down. He wasn’t particularly performing badly at anything other than nYPA, which was ranked 25th at 6.1.
Fields was not hurting the Steelers and is a fine fill-in starter, but Wilson still offers Pittsburgh a slight advantage in the passing game.
The Steelers need long-term stability under center, something they have not had since the Ben Roethlisberger era. While Wilson’s ceiling is enticing, his inconsistency draws uncertainty. Fields is much younger, still developing and offers a spark with his athleticism.
Pittsburgh’s quarterback quandary will be most interesting to monitor early in the offseason, as both Wilson and Fields’ contracts expire at the beginning of the new NFL league year in March.
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