According to insider Albert Breer, many people inside the Pittsburgh Steelers organization wanted the team to start Justin Fields over Russell Wilson, especially as things went downhill in the last month of the season.
“I think people (in Pittsburgh’s organization) would tell you that the Russell Wilson thing undermined so many things in the last month of the season, and that a lot of that building really wanted them to go back to Justin Fields,” Breer said on the Bill Simmons Show “(Steelers head coach Mike) Tomlin was kind of all on his own on that one.”
The Steelers, of course, ended up bringing neither player back, though they wanted to keep Fields. Instead, the New York Jets chose to pay Fields handsomely to draw him away from the Jets.
Fields went 4-2 in his six games, which started in 2024 for the Steelers. Once Fields left, the Steelers instead pivoted to Aaron Rodgers as their bridge quarterback before they seemed to look to trade up in the 2026 NFL Draft for their future franchise guy.
Fields had just one turnover and ten touchdowns in those games, which was an impressive mark for Him, who had issues handling football during his time in Chicago.
Wilson’s 12 games as a starter could have given the Steelers enough confidence that he could turn into the team’s starter at least for next season, yet they never seriously explored a reunion. The friction between offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and Wilson could be one of those key reasons.
Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in January that Wilson was stripped of his ability to call plays at the line of scrimmage late in the season.