LATROBE, Pa. -- Make no mistake about it: Mike Tomlin's starting quarterback is Russell Wilson.
No, Wilson's not playing Friday night at Acrisure Stadium against the Texans due to the calf strain he suffered at the start of training camp. But Tomlin was clear Wednesday morning that Wilson's his No. 1 guy.
"You guys saw our depth chart yesterday," Tomlin said. "That is real."
In the meantime, Justin Fields continues to have the opportunity to work with the first-team offense. He's taken full advantage of that opportunity throughout the first 12 practices of training camp, flashing his ability to throw the ball downfield and use his legs to extend plays.
But, for anyone who's watched Fields' film over the first three years of his career, those things aren't concerns for Fields. In 2023, Fields posted a 114.6 passer rating when throwing the ball 20-plus yards downfield, which included 18 big time throws to only one turnover worthy play, according to Pro Football Focus. Eight of Fields' 16 touchdown passes in 2023 came on these deep throws. And one year prior, Fields racked up a whopping 1,143 rushing yards and led qualifying rushers with 7.1 yards per carry.
Fields can throw the deep ball and he can definitely hurt a defense with his legs. The issue has been finding consistency as a passer. Fields has turned the ball over 41 times in his three NFL seasons, which is a number that should be alarming to just about anyone in this league.
But, it's clear that the Steelers believe Fields can be coached up to improve on what he's already done as a pro. That's where new quarterbacks coach Tom Arth comes in.
"Justin has done an incredible job. He's such a hard worker," Arth said Wednesday of Fields. "He's really focused so much energy and attention on his footwork, in the pocket, playing with a base, working through progressions quickly, being accurate with the ball in the pocket. All of those things, you kind of saw them starting to take shape in OTAs and minicamp. But these last couple of weeks have been so impressive to me, to really see his growth and development as a quarterback."
Each one of those things that Arth rattled off have been concerns with Fields. His overall footwork and mechanics have been something that's plagued him and made him far too inconsistent. He's far too talented to be able to throw a perfect deep ball, but miss far too often on passes such as these to the flat:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) February 28, 2024
Fields was great in this game against the Falcons in Week 17 of the 2023 season. It might have been one of his more complete performances as a pro, and in the elements, too. But the footwork issues still popped up on film -- even on some throws that resulted in positive plays. Here, Fields doesn't properly line his feet up towards his target and widens his base a little too much, which is why he misses on what should be a rather simple throw to the flat.
The thing is, Fields isn't stupid or stubborn to any of this. He's aware of the growth he needs to make in order to realize his potential, which is massive.
"He just had a focus on his footwork in the pocket, body balance, posture in which he throws from," Tomlin said Wednesday morning. "It's been a point of emphasis for him going into the offseason, and I've just seen the fruit of that labor, or the attention that he's given it."
All of this work is to make Fields a better passer and better quarterback that can play within the structure of the offense. If you want to know what competent quarterbacking looks like, all you have to do is go the the Steelers' final four games last season and watch Mason Rudolph. He didn't do anything extraordinary. He simply ran the offense. He made his reads, trusted his eyes, trusted his linemen to protect him and made accurate throws. He didn't have to be Superman in order to lead the Steelers to three straight wins and a playoff berth.
If Fields can incorporate more of that in his game, his potential is truly unlimited. Because on top of a potential ability to run the offense from the pocket, Fields always has the ability to make any defense pay with his legs. Remember, this is one of only three quarterbacks in NFL history to rush for at least 1,000 yards in a season. The other two are Lamar Jackson, who's won two league MVPs, and Michael Vick, who has plenty of career accolades of his own.
But what Jackson and Vick have (or had) that Fields is still trying to figure out is the ability to balance playing within the structure of the offense and when to improvise. I asked Arth specifically about how to coach that with a player such as Fields, giving some insight into how he might play in this offense:
"First of all, we never want to take the natural instincts away from a great player like Justin. And we want to emphasize the strengths that he has," Arth said. "Certainly, his ability to take off and run and being an explosive playmaker with the ball in his hands is an elite trait that he has. You watch his film in Chicago and how many 50-plus-yard runs are there? That's pretty rare. That's rare for any position, let alone the quarterback position. We really want to enhance that as much as we can. We want to support him in that. When things are tight, when you see a lane, trust your instincts and go. There's nobody we'd rather have the ball in their hands than Justin. We try to coach that into him as much as we can."
The other factor to take into account here is how Arthur Smith's system can help Fields become a more efficient passer. Are the concepts coached up better? How easily -- and quickly -- can Fields get through his reads? The right system and coordinator could have a big impact on Fields' trajectory, as well.
Unfortunately, those things won't be known for some time. Not at least until the Steelers step into a stadium and we get some film on how he's running the offense against a defense that's not sporting the same black and gold colors.
In the meantime, Tomlin, Smith and Arth are all pleased with the work Fields has put in during this time while Wilson's been limited. It's still far too early to get overly optimistic that Pittsburgh is the place that everything aligns for Fields and he takes off into superstardom. But, the process has been good so far, and Fields has made the most of every opportunity he's been given. That's pretty much all that can be done in this setting.
Rest assured, Friday night will be a big night for Fields, too.
"There's a component of in-stadium play that you can't anticipate," Tomlin said. "Somebody always surprises you in a positive way. Somebody always surprises you in a negative way, and that's just a component of it. I'm always open minded and excited about seeing who they are under those circumstances."
