Justin Fields has been a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers for eight months, and over that tenure, he's gone through just about every evaluation imaginable in the eyes of fans.
Some fans have thought he was the savior at quarterback, others believe he's best suited as a change-of-pace running QB akin to Tayson Hill in New Orleans, and others still believe he needs to change positions entirely in order to have any success in the NFL, with running back often tabbed as his ideal spot due to his athletic gifts.
But what about wide receiver? That's right, while the idea may be unusual on the surface, as Fields has been a quarterback for his entire time on the national stage, none other than Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger made the suggestion on his Footbahlin‘ podcast, noting that he would love to see the look in limited action in the future.
“I would like to see, line him up at receiver a couple times,” Roethlisberger explained via Steelers Depot. “Put him at different spots. Because what that does, even if you don’t do anything with it, again, anytime that you can force an opponent to spend five minutes on something that they might never see, it takes them away from preparing for what they will see.”
Alright, on one hand, no, it feels as likely that Fields would want to line up at wide receiver as Wilson would want to kick it outside when the OSU product takes read-option snaps from under center in change-of-pace looks.
“You could put [Fields] out a receiver and hand the ball to Najee. Like, you were gonna run a normal play. But having him a receiver now makes you think like, ‘Okay, are they gonna throw it to him? Are they gonna run a reverse pass to him?'” Roethlisberger noted. “I like the Fields’ package. It can’t be every third-and-short or every fourth-and-short. It has to be used kind of sparingly and at the right time.”
On paper, Roethlisberger's evaluation makes sense; Fields has wide receiver athleticism, great size for the position, and probably gives fans flashbacks to Antwaan Randle-El, who actually shared the field with “Big Ben” during their tenure together in Pittsburgh. Still, Fields hasn't exactly bottomed out as a quarterback and thus likely doesn't want to leave the position he loves, even on a short-term basis, when he could be in the mix for a starting spot again as soon as next year.
Justin Fields shot down returning kicks over the summer
Over the summer, fans began to hypothesize over what position Fields could play if he didn't win the QB1 spot with the Steelers, with camp video of him returning punts spurning on all sorts of interest takes.
Asked about giving the position a shot, Fields shot it down, noting that he was brought to Pittsburgh to play quarterback.
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“Nah, I'm not here to do that,” Fields said via ESPN. “It was kind of a joke, to be honest with you.”
No, at the time, Fields was focused on competing with Wilson, which was still up in the air at the time.
“I'm taking it day by day. I'm definitely competing. I think [Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson] knows that we're competing against each other every day,” Fields told reporters. “Him being out there for me, that helps me getting better, especially each other. I definitely don't have the mindset of me just sitting all year. I'm coming in every day giving it all I got and pushing him to be his best, and he's pushing me to be my best each and every day.”
Could Fields be an elite return man for the Steelers? Sure, and if there's an opportunity down six with 00:03 left on the clock in the Super Bowl, who knows, maybe he'd go back and take the ball to the house. But for now, at 25, Fields likely wants to stay put at quarterback.
