Insider, rival teams voice concerns about Russell Wilson's future with Steelers

Shortly before Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin publicly confirmed last week that veteran Russell Wilson will begin the upcoming season as the club's starting quarterback over Justin Fields, three-time Super Bowl champion and current NFL analyst Mark Schlereth predicted that the Steelers will "move on from" both signal-callers next offseason.

Schlereth isn't the only noteworthy member of the NFL community who doubts Wilson will resurrect his career with Pittsburgh.

Jeff Howe of The Athletic spoke with "dozens of sources around the NFL this summer" for a story on all 32 teams and shared on Monday that "there’s concern among rival teams that Wilson is too far past his prime to be a difference-maker for an offense that has finished in the bottom 10 in total yards in five consecutive seasons."

Wilson, who turns 36-years-old in November, flopped with the Denver Broncos across the past two campaigns before they ate the largest dead cap hit in NFL history to part ways with him this past March.

Also on Monday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated explained why fans shouldn't be surprised if Fields "becomes the Steelers' starter at some point this season."

"...Had Mike Tomlin picked Fields, there’d be some question as to whether you could carry Wilson on the roster at all," Breer wrote.

That point is interesting considering that one NFL executive told ESPN's Adam Schefter in March it was believed the Steelers could have moved on from Wilson after the preseason had Fields won what's been called a legitimate competition for the starting job.

Breer mentioned how Tomlin benched quarterback Mitchell Trubisky in favor of then-rookie Kenny Pickett in the fall of 2022. More recently, Pickett lost the QB1 gig to injury and to backup Mason Rudolph last season.

"This isn’t anyone’s first rodeo in Pittsburgh, and Fields took some fundamental changes that the offensive coaches gave him (one being a return to the type of footwork he’d used at Ohio State) and really worked on them over the past few weeks of camp," Breer added. "It was enough to have some folks internally push for Fields to start. There was, too, plenty of merit to the idea."

Neither Wilson nor Fields is signed beyond this season, so Tomlin has no real reason to stick with the one-time Super Bowl champion if Pittsburgh has a losing record at any point before its Week 9 bye. If nothing else, Wilson has plenty of bulletin board material to use as motivation considering how many analysts, reporters and so-called experts believe his best playing days are well behind him.