Believe it or not, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger actually has a great point when it comes to how the Steelers should move forward with their starting quarterback for next year.
On his Footbahlin podcast, which hosts with Spencer Teo and had guest host and former Steelers quarterback in Devlin "Duck" Hodges on, Roethlisberger said the Steelers should give Justin Fields another run with the offense.
“I’d like to see what Fields could do in another year of that offense,” Roethlisberger said, h/t Behind the Steel Curtain. “Whether you want to bring someone else in, let’s see what he can do in a second year of an offense. There’s some familiarity. He’s had a new system every year. He may be more comfortable. Obviously, we’re not taking into account contracts and all that kind of stuff. I’d like to see what Fields could do another year.”
He’s honestly not wrong either. Fields was brought in to be the successor to Russell Wilson. Wilson was always on borrowed time in Pittsburgh and the ideology was the reason they brought in both was to prepare the protege, while Wilson started.
Then Wilson had health issues to start the year and that opened up the opportunity for Fields to start the first six games of the year. He didn’t look bad either. Come to find out, the biggest issue the Steelers had with Fields was the offense wasn’t scoring.
Well to end the season, the offense managed to look worse with Wilson in the final five games, than it did with Fields the first six games. That’s why Fields deserves another opportunity to be a starting quarterback in Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Steelers should already know that Justin Fields should be back next season
Fields has had one of the most unfortunate starts to his NFL career. At Ohio State, he flexed his big play ability that led the Buckeyes to a national championship appearance in his final season. When the Chicago Bears drafted him, he was already doomed.
In Chicago, he didn’t have a competent coaching staff and they refused to unleash him like they should have. They put restraints on his game play which is why he struggled so much. Obviously, it didn’t help that he had little to no weapons.
But, when it came down to it, Chicago was always going to be a rough place to start. When the Bears sent him to Pittsburgh for draft capital, it wasn’t just a chance to get a refresh, but a chance to learn from a veteran and step in.
Now is his time to step in and the Steelers are ready to abandon him before he even has a chance to fail. Pittsburgh has had a revolving door of quarterbacks over the last few years so it shouldn’t be a shock that they are putting themselves back in the quarterback market.
The problem is, they already seemed to have found a respectable answer at quarterback and they’re playing games. Fields showed he can play with this offense, and that was with restrictions.
Arthur Smith would have no choice but to unleash the full Fields. We have yet to see the full scope of how good Fields can be in the NFL because his coaches refuse to let him play his game.
Next season, there’s no reason why the Steelers shouldn’t give him the keys to the offense at this point. What better option is out there?