Dan Graziano of ESPN strongly suggested in a piece published Wednesday that Justin Fields will remain the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting quarterback even after Russell Wilson is fully healthy coming off the calf injury that sidelined him across the season’s first five weeks.
Well-known Steelers insider Mark Kaboly not only disagrees with Graziano. Kaboly said during a Wednesday appearance on Pittsburgh sports radio station 93.7 The Fan that he believes Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin will turn to Wilson for the team’s Week 7 “Sunday Night Football” home game against the New York Jets. Fields is expected to this Sunday’s matchup at the 2-3 Las Vegas Raiders.
“I think they’re going to give Justin one more opportunity,” Kaboly explained, as shared by Andrew Limberg of Audacy, “and I don’t know if anything…can stand in the way of Russell playing next week against the Jets.”
NFL insider Mike Florio of NBC Sports/Pro Football Talk raised some eyebrows when he said shortly after Fields lost a second straight start that “Tomlin wants” to go to a healthy Wilson when possible. While individuals such as Graziano have noted Fields offers a running ability not possessed by Wilson, the numbers show the 25-year-old has struggled to consistently play at an elite level.
Per the StatMuse website, Fields is ranked 18th in the league with a combined 1,133 passing and rushing yards on the campaign. According to Pro Football Reference, he’s 23rd among qualified players with a 48.0 adjusted QBR. In total, Fields has recorded five passing touchdowns to go along with three rushing scores.
“We pretty much got a pretty good snapshot of what this offense looks like under Justin Fields,” Kaboly added during the segment. “It’s not like it’s going to get remarkably better. We don’t, 100 percent, know what it looks like under Russell Wilson.”
Perhaps Fields will become a revelation against the Raiders and give Tomlin no other choice but to stick with the former first-rounder against a Jets team that fired its head coach on Tuesday. Then again, it’s also possible Wilson could replace Fields during this Sunday’s contest at Allegiant Stadium should the 35-year-old be cleared to serve as an active QB2 and Pittsburgh’s offense fail to impress in the opening half of play.