Justin Fields hype train joining Steelers is off the rails before training camp

For as much as many of us want to see Justin Fields succeed in his second NFL stop, we may need to slow our horses and realize the magnitude of the situation in Western Pennsylvania. Fields is entering his fourth NFL season out of Ohio State. It may be his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but he no longer is the starting quarterback for the Chicago Bears anymore. He is backing up Russell Wilson.

Although I think there is far more upside in starting games with Fields over Wilson, I will listen to what Steelers insider Ray Fittipaldo had to say over on SiriusXM. I appreciate it because it removed the rose-colored glasses I apparently had on while viewing Fields over the last few seasons. He is still inaccurate as hell, which played a part in why he had to transfer from Georgia to Ohio State in 2019.

Per Fittipaldo's intel, the Steelers are going to be Wilson's team through and through this NFL season.

"Fields, from what I've seen, they had a month of spring practices and he's a terrific athlete, but really the knocks against him that I heard coming in actually turned out to be true. He's not terribly accurate with the ball. His placement isn't all the great, and I could see them maybe having a package or two for him each week depending on the opponent, but I see this team as Russell Wilson's team."

I think because the Bears rarely have a remote clue what to do in the passing game, Fields was glorified for his athleticism and undying will to try and make something happen. To me, this is the best part of his game. He can ad-lib with the best of them. You can't take your eyes off him when he does it. However, accuracy issues that never seemed to go away with his loopy throwing motion remain.

There is a lot to unpack here with how the Steelers view Fields and how everybody else views him.

We may be overhyping Justin Fields on the Pittsburgh Steelers quite a bit

Fields grew up in the same county as me just outside of Atlanta. While I will be the first to tell you that high school football is a huge deal in our neck of the woods, we weren't exactly going up against the stiffest of competition in-region growing up. Fields' five-star status coming out felt a bit artificially inflated, which proved to be the case when he first arrived on campus in Athens way back in 2018.

As a true freshman, he couldn't beat out a lesser former four-star in Jake Fromm, a guy he was way more talented then. In time, maybe he could have, but accuracy was never Fields' forte like it kind of was with Fromm. When Fields transferred to Ohio State, it did sting a little bit, but I understood the move totally. By playing for Ryan Day, he would be set up for success by going to the Big Ten's best.

Simply put, accuracy was never all that big of a deal for him in Columbus because he and the rest of his Buckeyes teammates were far more talented than almost everyone they went up against. When he played the final game of his college career in the national championship during the COVID season, Fields was exposed once more. Those larger passing lanes from Big Ten play closed up vs. Alabama.

What I am getting at is this. Fields might be closer to Marcus Mariota than we want to think. I like Fields more, mostly because he didn't openly quit on the NFL team I root for like the 2014 Heisman Trophy winner did two years ago. However, there are reasons why his new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith passed on him in favor of Kyle Pitts when he was the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

For what Smith wants to do offensively, Wilson may be exactly what he needs. He needs a field general who will play within the context of the offense, which is to use the run to open up the pass. Fields may have more talent than Wilson, but I can kind of sort of understand why the Steelers seem to be so adamantly in Wilson's corner over Fields'. I don't have to agree with it, but I can understand it.

All I know is being inaccurate in Smith's offense will lead to more fullback end-arounds in no time.