Insider shares if Steelers held true competition between Russell Wilson, Justin Fields

Multiple Pittsburgh Steelers beat reporters and analysts suggested throughout the summer that head coach Mike Tomlin always planned to start veteran Russell Wilson at quarterback over Justin Fields.

During the latest edition of The Athletic's "Scoop City" podcast, NFL insider Dianna Russini insisted that Fields could've won the job during the preseason, particularly after Wilson was slowed by the calf injury he suffered early into training camp.

"I know you don't think it is, but I'm just gonna share with you what they told me," Russini explained, as shared by Josh Carney of Steelers Depot. "This was a competition from day one, and the problem that we saw was Justin Fields played well and he took advantage of when Russell Wilson was injured with that calf injury, but he didn't do enough to win the job. They evaluated these quarterbacks every single day and made it fair, from what I was told, in terms of, ' Go get it. Whoever wants this job, go grab it.' And nobody did."

Sportsbooks routinely listed Wilson as the betting favorite to start over Fields for Pittsburgh's Week 1 game at the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 8 before Tomlin confirmed that decision this week. With that said, any doubt regarding Tomlin's intentions essentially disappeared after he played Wilson for just a single series in the club's preseason finale last weekend.

From the start of training camp through the preseason, Fields largely looked like the same quarterback who failed to cement himself as a long-term starter with the Chicago Bears across three campaigns before Chicago traded him to Pittsburgh for a conditional 2025 sixth-round draft pick back in March. It nevertheless seems that Fields impressed coaches with his work over the past several weeks.

"...They like what they're seeing from Justin," Russini added about the Steelers' process. " That was my other big takeaway from being around the Steelers is this isn't a clear celebration of, 'Yeah, Russell's our guy. He won it.' This was close."

Neither Wilson nor Fields is signed beyond the 2024 season, so Tomlin has no real reason to stick with the one-time Super Bowl champion if the Steelers enter their Week 9 bye with a losing record. In short, Wilson could find himself playing for his job on a weekly basis until further notice.