The Pittsburgh Steelers made headlines on Wednesday, as coach Mike Tomlin officially announced that veteran Russell Wilson had won the battle to be the team’s starting quarterback over Justin Fields.
But when the Steelers open the 2024 campaign against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 8, Fields won’t just be sitting on the bench holding a clipboard and filling Wilson’s Gatorade bottle.
“My friend Raheem Morris better be prepared to take an offer from Justin Fields,” Tomlin told TV’s The Daily Mail. the Rich Eisen Show Wednesday. “There’s too much talent to sit back and watch.”
Entering his fourth NFL season after being selected with the No. 11 pick in the 2021 draft, Fields has shown plenty of flashes of elite talent over his three years with the Chicago Bears. In 40 games (38 starts), Fields has thrown for 6,674 yards with 40 touchdowns and 30 interceptions while rushing for 2,220 yards and 14 touchdowns.
However, he didn’t perform enough in the preseason to beat out Wilson for the job, throwing for 199 yards on 19-of-27 passes, and rushing 13 times for 48 yards.
Wilson may start with the starters in the first quarter of next week’s game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, but Fields will still have some opportunities to give the Steelers offense a boost when it’s needed.
“Alcohol enthusiast. Twitter ninja. Tv lover. Falls down a lot. Hipster-friendly coffee geek.”