Mediocre Mike: Steelers future could be screwed thanks to Tomlin’s Russell Wilson decision
By Jake Beckman
John Madden once said, “If you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none.”
Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers never heard that quote. They’re going into the 2024 season with Russell Wilson and Justin Fields battling for the starting position.
Injuries aside, they probably won’t just stick with one guy through the entire season, and whoever wins the job will earn another contract with the team. That's going to lead to a bleak future for Steelers fans.
Steelers are on track for prolonged exposure to really terrible quarterback play
In the Steelers’ second preseason game, both Russell Wilson and Justin Fields played and they split time for the entirety of the game. They threw the ball for a combined 113 yards and scored a whole three points. Typically, you’d want to see more out of your quarterbacks than that.
We’re going to hear more about what the Steelers’ full plans are for the third preseason game during Mike Tomnlin’s press conference on Thursday, but DangeRuss has already said that he’ll be playing.
If Russ is starting in that game, barring a hideous performance or injury, it’s probably safe to assume he’s going to be QB1 for the Steelers. This is a great thing for football because if he’s starting early in the season, that means he’ll be the quarterback when the Steelers go to Denver in Week 2. It’s going to be an amazing revenge game for the Broncos.
The point is, Russ isn’t going to win games and he’s not going to keep the job. When Fields gets the job, the team will have some extra juice, and that’ll help them win games. That might sound dumb, and it is, but it’s true.
That’s because the universe has gifted Mike Tomlin the god-like power to never have a losing season. This ultimately means the Steelers will end the season with a 9-8 record putting them near, if not in, the middle of the 2025 NFL draft.
ESPN’s Field Yates agrees. He knows ball, and he projected the Steelers to have the 13th pick in the 2025 draft. At that spot, he has them taking Tetairoa McMillan, a wide receiver out of Arizona.
He says that Pittsburgh’s pursuit of the 49ers’ wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is a pretty good reason to think they would target a pass catcher in the first round. Another pretty good reason to think this is because the Steelers are really really good at drafting wide receivers. So yeah. Duh.
The issue with this prediction is that Tomlin’s Steelers have never drafted a WR in the first round. Their last one was Santonio Holmes in 2006.
The 2025 draft class has QB prospects like Quinn Ewers (Texas), Shedeur Sanders (Colorado), Jalen Milroe (Alabama), and Carson Beck (Georgia). All guys that could (potentially) be an upgrade at the QB position for the Steelers.
So, if/when Wilson or Fields wins the job, if Field Yates is correct that the Steelers continue their streak of mediocrity, and if they break their streak of not drafting a WR in the first round, the future could be bleak for the franchise. Normally, hypothetical parlays like this are long shots, but this one looks like it might hit.
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