The start of training camp is now just a couple of days away. Players will report on Wednesday, and the first practice will begin on Thursday. That means the start of the various training camp competitions. One of the most talked about competitions in the league will be between Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. The way former Steelers CB Ike Taylor sees it, the Steelers are positioned well with Mike Tomlin to navigate the many factors involved in the decision.
“When it comes down to them quarterback battles, you gotta tread light. When it comes down to the quarterback battles, you gotta go with the hot hand…You gotta look at the temperature of the team when it comes down to making them executive decisions,” Taylor said on the Bleav In Steelers podcast.
“You wouldn’t have a better coach than Coach [Mike] T. making the decisions because he knows exactly from the top of that roster to the bottom of that roster and checking the temperature of the team and seeing how the team is responding to either of his decisions.”
Whatever critiques you have of Tomlin and his track record as a coach, very few would try to argue that he doesn’t have the pulse of the team at his fingertips. Players have almost unanimously loved playing for him over the years, and the proof is in the pudding when it comes to the team staying focused through adversity. With their backs against the wall last season, Tomlin kept the team focused and won three straight games to qualify for the playoffs at the end of the season.
One key part of that turnaround was Tomlin’s decision to ride the hot hand of QB Mason Rudolph. For the majority of his career as a head coach, Tomlin had Ben Roethlisberger as the unquestioned starter. If he was healthy, he was starting. There were only a few occasions where he had to navigate quarterback controversies. The 2019 season was one example when Roethlisberger was injured, and the team bounced between Rudolph and Devlin Hodges. And the two seasons since Roethlisberger retired have been interesting between Mitch Trubisky, Kenny Pickett, and Rudolph.
Remembering back to last year, it was a fairly difficult decision that Tomlin had to make. Do you give Pickett his first official benching not even two years after he was the team’s first-round pick? Tomlin made that decision with the momentum and temperature of the rest of the roster in mind and it paid off.
There are different considerations this time around, but decisions in Pittsburgh will always be centered on who gives the team the best chance of winning. Wilson was given “pole position” and many have dismissed the possibility of an actual competition taking place. That may well be the case, but that also makes the assumption that Wilson looks good and Fields doesn’t continue to progress as a young player.
“I think overall, in general, we got good problems,” Taylor said. “…You got two different styles of quarterback when it comes down to Russ and Justin, but by the end of the day, you can win with both of them.”
The team has next to nothing invested in either player – all of $1.21 million in Wilson and a future conditional sixth-round pick for Fields. They have some freedom to navigate the competition in whichever way best suits the team. Wilson probably gives them a better chance out of the gate, but they also have to consider the future and the decade of youth Fields has over Wilson.
Seeing how players respond to each quarterback in the huddle and in the meeting rooms will be part of that evaluation. Taylor thinks Tomlin is the best possible coach to evaluate and ultimately decide on the Steelers’ 2024 quarterback.
