The Pittsburgh Steelers have a great opportunity during the 2024 NFL offseason. They need a quarterback to take their team to the next level and there happen to be some good ones available in Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins, and Justin Fields.
Fields is likely the only QB the team would need a trade to acquire, but he could be a good fit for the team.
PFF’s Brad Spielberger believes a trade for Fields is the move the Steelers should make this offseason.
In an article examining trades that could shake up the 2024 offseason, Spielberger proposed a trade that would send the Steelers’ 2024 second-round pick (pick 52) and a fifth rounder in 2025 to the Chicago Bears in exchange for Fields.
It’s a deal that could be of interest to the Steelers as there is an important member who could be in support of making a move for Fields.
Fields Has a Fan on the Steelers
One thing that could help Fields land on the Steelers is that he has a fan within the organization.
During a February 12 appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, NFL insider Adam Schefter revealed that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is a big fan of Fields.
“We know that Pittsburgh is going to go out and get some type of quarterback. Whether that’s Ryan Tannehill, whether that’s Russell Wilson, whether that’s Justin Fields,” Schefter said. “Justin Fields, I know Mike Tomlin’s a big fan of Justin Fields. We’ll keep that in mind during the offseason and the coming weeks.”
Tomlin probably wouldn’t mind seeing his team go out and get him an upgrade at QB.
The Steelers’ urgency to bring an end to their playoff losing that dates back to 2016 has been a major talking point this offseason.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that streak is going to come to an end unless the Steelers see some improvement at quarterback.
Fields isn’t on the same level as some of the star QBs the Steelers have to face regularly in the AFC North, but he’d be an improvement over Pickett.
He’d also provide the Steelers with something that Tomlin values that he doesn’t get from Pickett.
Tomlin Wanted a Mobile QB
During the 2022 NFL offseason, the Steelers found themselves looking for a franchise QB after 18 seasons with Ben Roethlisberger under center.
As Tomlin publicly discussed the team’s quarterback situation, there was one thing that he repeatedly mentioned as something he wanted.
He wanted a mobile QB.
Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out too well for him as there wasn’t really a viable mobile QB available in the draft that year.
That led to the team making Kenny Pickett the first QB off the board in 2022 draft.
In his first year in the league, Pickett was able to use his legs somewhat successfully. He ran for 237 yards and 3 touchdowns in twelve games as a rookie.
His second year saw those numbers drop to 54 yards and 1 touchdown in the same number of games.
Fields has averaged 55.5 rushing yards per game during his NFL career and ran for 1143 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2022.
He is one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the league and could cause problems for opposing defenses that Pickett doesn’t.
A move for Fields would give Tomlin the mobile QB he wanted and at a pretty reasonable price.
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Trade Proposal Gets Steelers a Former 1st Round QB in Exchange for Picks