Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II seems to be readying Pittsburgh fans for a new face in the quarterback room. The team president revealed the team’s plans for the position as they prepare to enter the NFL Draft season and attempt to evaluate their needs.
Art Rooney II Reveals Steelers’ Plans for Russell Wilson-Justin Fields Duo
Two aspects that have held the Steelers back from being serious playoff threats in recent seasons are the offensive schemes and the QB situation. Having Russell Wilson and Justin Fields in the QB room in 2024 was a marginal improvement from past seasons, but it was nowhere close to making them a consistent offense, despite installing Arthur Smith as their offensive coordinator.
Neither Fields nor Wilson were able to showcase an ability to execute timing concepts or make tight-window throws consistently. Although the team’s rough-and-tough defense-first approach is good for winning regular season grinds, a lack of offensive bite will always keep teams from being Super Bowl contenders.
Fields graded better than Wilson according to PFN’s QB+ metric — Fields, 781.; Wilson, 75.3 — but both ranked in the mid-to-low-teens across the NFL in 2024, providing a solid baseline but room for improvement in 2025
With all of this in mind and the evidence of 2024 in his rearview, Rooney has reassured fans of his willingness to try and remedy their quarterback situation. He seems to have decided to keep only one of his two starters from the past season.
“I wouldn’t close the door, but I’d say it’s probably unlikely,” Rooney said. “I think both of them see themselves as starters, and I don’t know that they want to share the same job again next year. So, I would say most likely we probably don’t wind up bringing them both back.”
“They’re both capable quarterbacks, and my preference would be to sign one of them. So that’ll be the priority, and I think that will give us the best opportunity to move forward.”
Wilson seems to be on a clear decline from his MVP-caliber heyday with the Seattle Seahawks. It seems likely, therefore, that the Steelers stick with Fields for another season while also taking a look at the quarterbacks available in this year’s draft.
According to NFL scouts, there are very few first-round-graded QBs in this year’s draft pool. This reinforces the need to retain a veteran and have a competent starter to take over. Fields seemed to have some sort of a career resurgence during his first three Steelers starts. It remains to be seen whether he can put together a consistent stretch of error-free play over 18 weeks.
Just wrapped up Art Rooney II's end-of-season presser. More to come, but two biggest takeaways:
-don't expect wholesale staffing changes
-he anticipates signing either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson, but likely not both. Ideally wants more than a one year deal at QB.— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) January 27, 2025
Wilson, who won six of his first seven starts before losing his last five, intends to play his career out in Pittsburgh. The initial stretch of wins could be the reason Rooney is finding it tough to make a pick.
“I thought both Russ and Justin showed promise in certain stretches during the season, and I think they’re both capable of being starters in this league,” Rooney said. “So we have decisions, and they have decisions too.”
Fields finished with a 4-2 record during his six starts.