The Pittsburgh Steelers are going to let Russell Wilson cook dinner.
Coach Mike Tomlin introduced the nine-time Professional Bowler because the crew’s starter on Wednesday, placing an finish to a largely perfunctory quarterback competitors with Justin Fields through which the 35-year-old Wilson held the “pole place” as Tomlin put it for months and did little to cede floor to Fields.
Wilson would be the fourth completely different Week 1 beginning quarterback in as many seasons for the Steelers, who’ve bounced from Ben Roethlisberger to Mitch Trubisky to Kenny Pickett and now to Wilson, who flamed out in two seasons in Denver however virtually sprinted to Pittsburgh in hopes of reviving his profession.
The Steelers revamped their offense within the offseason, flipping the quarterback room completely and hiring former Atlanta head coach Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator.
Wilson, who signed a one-year deal on the primary day of free company, will likely be tasked with attempting to goose up manufacturing for a unit that’s the fundamental purpose Pittsburgh has did not win a playoff sport in eight years, the franchise’s longest drought for the reason that ‘Immaculate Reception’ in 1972.
That dry spell is likely one of the causes the Steelers made such an abrupt shift at an important place on the sphere. Tomlin and normal supervisor Omar Khan stated repeatedly over the winter that they had been all-in on Pickett, a first-round decide in 2022.
Issues modified shortly – in a short time – after Wilson was introduced in to supply competitors. Pittsburgh traded Pickett hours after bringing in Wilson. The Steelers then acquired Fields, who endured three uneven seasons in Chicago.
Whereas Fields is a decade youthful than Wilson and is much extra cellular, Wilson offers expertise and a resumé that features a Tremendous Bowl ring. A calf harm slowed Wilson throughout coaching camp, giving Fields extra follow reps with the starters.
Tomlin’s determination to play coy fueled idle hypothesis that Fields had an opportunity to be the starter, however the actuality is Tomlin positioned Wilson atop the depth chart to begin coaching camp and Fields by no means got here near unseating him.
The competitors such because it was led to Detroit final Saturday when Wilson led a fast four-play landing drive that included a fairly 26-yard flip to George Pickens.
Wilson’s numbers had been strong in Denver final season. He threw for 26 touchdowns towards eight interceptions and remained efficient within the purple zone. But he clashed with Broncos coach Sean Payton, a lot in order that Denver opted to maneuver on from the potential Corridor of Famer simply 18 months after buying and selling for him and signing him to an enormous $242m extension.
The Broncos had been so keen to switch Wilson they willingly ate the $39m they nonetheless owed him in 2024, a choice that permit the Steelers convey Wilson in for the veteran minimal.
There’s loads at stake for Wilson, Fields and the Steelers. Pittsburgh at present has no quarterback below contract for 2025 after declining to select up Fields’ fifth-year choice.
Whereas Wilson will run out with the starters in Atlanta on 8 September, nothing after that’s assured. Solely as soon as up to now decade has the identical quarterback began each sport in a given season.
Final 12 months, Pittsburgh shuffled by way of Pickett, Trubisky and Mason Rudolph, with Rudolph main an unlikely cost to the postseason after taking on in December.
Pittsburgh’s keep within the playoffs, nonetheless, was short-lived. The Steelers had been dealt with simply by the Payments within the opening spherical, resulting in some soul-searching that ended with one of many NFL’s most secure franchises making a sequence of daring strikes looking for a spark.
Wilson will get an opportunity to supply it as he tries to place a forgettable chapter in his adorned profession firmly within the rearview mirror.
