The 2024 season will be a year to prove it Justin Field.
Fields’ $25 million fifth-year option will not be exercised Pittsburgh Steelworkers, ESPN reported Wednesday. With the move, the midfielder will enter the final year of his contract in 2024, potentially making him a free agent next season.
The Steelers acquired Fields in March as part of an effort to rebuild their quarterback room, sending a conditional 2025 sixth-round pick to the team. Chicago Bear To get him. Fields, 25, showed some improvement as a passer late last season, but the Bears chose to move on from him as they likely would have Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick in Thursday’s draft. The 2021 first-round pick posted a career-high 2,652 yards last year, with 16 passing touchdowns, nine interceptions, 657 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in 13 games. Chicago went 5-8 in that contest.
While Fields served as the Bears’ starting quarterback for much of the past three seasons, Russell Wilson entered the offseason program as Pittsburgh’s starting quarterback. The Steelers signed Wilson for the veteran’s minimum of $1.2 million in mid-March after Broncos release him. Denver will pay the remainder of Wilson’s $39 million salary in 2024.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told reporters in March that while he wanted to establish a QB hierarchy for the season, the door remained open for Fields to win the job.
“Rest assured when it comes time to play, Justin will have an opportunity to play and we will allow those guys to work it out themselves,” Tomlin said at the NFL league meetings.
Tomlin added that Wilson is a veteran “who a young guy like Justin can learn from.”
The news that the Steelers are unlikely to pick up Fields’ fifth-year option comes shortly after general manager Omar Khan left it open their likelihood of selecting a midfielder at some point in time 2024 NFL Draft.
“I think it’s unrealistic for us to take a quarterback in Round 1,” Khan told reporters at the Steelers’ pre-draft press conference. “There are some good players there, and I won’t close the door on anything. If there’s an opportunity to improve that room, we’ll obviously consider it. We have three guys on one-year contracts, and we have to be open to it.”
Will Justin Fields or Russell Wilson start for the Steelers?
Fields, Wilson and the veteran linebacker Kyle Allen have all signed one-year contracts. Shortly after signing, Wilson reportedly announced that he would be the starting quarterback, causing Kenny Pickett to request a transaction. The Steelers traded Pickett at the same time as his release Mitchell Trubisky and let Mason Rudolph walk in free agency. All three were inconsistent last season, although the Steelers went 10-7 and made the playoffs.
Now they’re starting 2024 with a whole new cast of QBs. The Steelers also have to make a decision soon on a fifth-year running back Najee Harris.
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