Justin Fields makes his case to be Pittsburgh Steelers' starter over Russell Wilson

The longer the Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback competition has gone on between Justin Fields and Russell Wilson, the more I think it is going to the former. Wilson may have Pro Bowls and a Super Bowl on his resume, but Fields offers way more upside. After all, he is still playing on his rookie contract out of Ohio State. Pittsburgh got Wilson for cheap, but the Steelers did give up draft capital to land Fields.

In the wake of Wilson saying what he aspires to do on the field Saturday afternoon in the Steelers' final preseason game of the summer vs. the Detroit Lions, it feels like Fields is chomping at the bit to overtake him once and for all on the quarterbacking depth chart. It will really come down to who Mike Tomlin trusts more to run Arthur Smith's ground-centric attack. It is close, but I would go with Fields.

Fields told Brooke Pryor of ESPN that he believes he has shown the Steelers staff enough already.

"I think I've shown what I can do. I think the time that I did have with the [first team] practicing in training camp, I think that went well. I think we grew a lot each and every day, but at the end of the day, it's not up to me."

Fields seems to understand that consistency is the quickest way for him to earn the trust of the staff.

"I mean, I'm just going to come in here every day, each and every day, the same person, being a leader for this team and work my butt off, and everything else will be handled."

When it comes to the competition, Fields is not going to let stuff he cannot control consume him.

"I try to not think about stuff that I can't control. I try to just think about the stuff that I can control, so I can't control whether or not I'm going to be named the starter. I can control how I come in every day, how I work every day and how I treat my teammates and every day."

There are two reasons why it must be Fields: He is younger, and the Steelers gave up more to get him.

Justin Fields pleads his case to be Pittsburgh Steelers' new starting QB

Frankly, the idea of what Fields could still be intrigues me. He is from the same county as me in Metro Atlanta. Along with his NFL peer and Cartersville native Trevor Lawrence, these are arguably the two best high school quarterback prospects from my neck of the woods that I can honestly remember. There were signs while Field was at my alma mater of Georgia where he look like a future first-rounder.

Simply put, Fields is more talented than Wilson and nearly a decade younger than him. We have seen Wilson get to great heights in the NFL playing for Pete Carroll on the Seattle Seahawks, but he was beyond a shell of himself during his two years with the Denver Broncos. Fields certainly had his moments with the Chicago Bears the last two years. Too bad Caleb Williams was too good to pass up.

Yes, it may have only been a conditional pick that the Steelers gave up to get the former Bears starter, but it was more than what Pittsburgh had to pay Wilson after he was let go. It may only be a one-year trial run for both of these quarterbacks, but the Steelers cannot mess around and think they have two decent options when they really only need one. It is why trading Wilson away is a possible solution.

This is why they pay Tomlin the big bucks, as it will be up to him to make the right decision with this.